Regional Spotlight: American and Southern | May 30, 2025
As an established name in the Americana market, it is always exciting to showcase local color and history in our American and Southern sales. On May 30th we are pleased to offer a collection of Western North Carolina woodworks lovingly curated by Asheville antiquarians over the course of their lifelong collecting. Pieces range from Appalachian folk art to art works by important Cherokee carvers including Amanda Crowe and Virgil Ledford.
Born in Murphy, North Carolina, Amanda Crowe (1928-2004) was a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. After studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and spending time studying sculpture in Mexico, Crowe returned to North Carolina and developed a woodcarving and sculpture class at the Cherokee High School where, over the next forty years, she taught and informed the techniques and aesthetics of Cherokee woodcarvers after her. From the nearby community of Birdtown, Virgil Ledford (b. 1940) began carving at an early age, and would eventually study under Crowe. Their work appears in this sale alongside other signed pieces by J. Ledford, W.H. Crowe, Albert Allison, Watty Chiltoski [sic], Pete Long, H. Nichols, and D. Smith. Though a discerning eye may pick out an individual’s personal touch or style, the sleek, rounded, almost mid-century modern qualities present throughout the carvings are reminiscent of Crowe’s influence.
Works similar in style and subject originated several years prior in Brasstown, North Carolina. The Brasstown carvers were a group formed around 1929 as part of the John C. Campbell Folk School, which helped to turn Appalachian pastimes into sources of income through instruction and marketing. A 1933 exhibition of Mountain Handicrafts brought national attention to the North Carolinians and their craft, and caught the eye of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who is reported to have visited the exhibit several times and even purchased some of the pieces, including “a whole flock of geese” per the Washington Post. Geese were a popular theme for carvers and there are several featured in this sale. Also notable is a purse with carved goose form handles purchased from Richard Cary, who was a great-nephew of folklorist and founder of the John C. Campbell Folk School Olive Dame Campbell. Campbell was Cary’s mother’s sister. The purse was possibly made by Cary’s mother June Cary, who was in Brasstown just before World War II and again in the 1950s. With many Brasstown pieces simply signed with two, sometimes three initials, or not signed at all, the history behind these carvings relies on the passing on of local knowledge through the community, much like the skill of woodcarving itself.
Lot 1258 – Six Cherokee Carved Wood Animals
Hewn from native woods, popular subjects include woodland creatures like geese, otters, and bears, as well as household and farm animals such as cats, dogs, and horses.
The idea of training locals as craftspeople had arrived in the area even earlier than the folk school in Brasstown with the establishment of Biltmore Industries at the beginning of the 20th century. Developed by missionaries and partners Eleanor Vance, a woodworker, and Charlotte Yale, a weaver, the “Boy’s Club of All Souls’ Church” originally taught local children about handicraft. At first the primitive offerings were sold at church bazaars, but as the students’ skill level and production grew, they were paid hourly for their work. As the organization garnered more interest, Biltmore Estate Industries (as it was then known) was launched with the goal to help develop young people in the area as professional woodcarvers. They would become renowned for producing decorative household objects including fireplace tools, bookends and stands, decorative boxes, and furniture marked with an arrow-pierced banner reading “Forward.” Lots offered include groups of boxes, book accessories, and fireplace tools.
While Biltmore Industries focused on refining crafts into an elevated art, the regional craft of twig art can be seen as celebrating the roughness of mountain life. The twisted roots of the rhododendron and mountain laurel that are plentiful throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains were easily harvested and manipulated with only primitive tools, and the natural forms provided a rustic, decorative element to otherwise purely practical pieces of furniture. Diminutive versions of chairs and benches, possibly seen on porches from winding roads, made charming souvenirs for tourists drawn to the area for its rugged beauty. Included in this sale are two groups of miniature furniture.
Suitable for display in a mountain home or a museum, this wonderful collection has wide appeal, both to serious collectors of Native American and folk art, and those simply drawn to the rustic appeal of historic Western North Carolina. Please join us in person or online Friday, May 30 at 10 AM EDT for our American and Southern sale featuring these and more Americana lots. Contact us to preview the auction ahead of time and register to bid in advance.
World-Class Consignments and Exceptional Results