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Berea College Student Craft

@bcstudentcraft

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The official account of @bereacollege Student Craft
2026 @cooperhewitt National Design Award Winner
#CraftingChange

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Making my way back East has been a labor of love, met with the most affirming welcome. God speaks to me through nature, and my orchid blooming for the first time in three years was all the assurance I needed. It’s okay to leap (or move). Taking all the well-made home goods and best Ethiopian spots in the DMV 👀. More on de nuevo this week 💕

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Finger Towels for the Ladies. 2026.

I began my Berea Craft Fellowship Research in the Hutchins Library Special Collections digging through papers belonging to former heads of Fireside Weaving: Anna Enberg and Lena Mae Elkin to ground myself in the history of the program. I found samples of the Fireside Finger Towels and sales pamphlets from the early 1900s which included the text featured in these weavings.
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#bereacollege #craft #textiles #weaving #art

Finger Towels for the Ladies and A Guest Towel for the Men Folks. 2026.

My towels honor the craftsmanship and design of the Fireside towels but also poke-fun at the gender essentialist tone of the pamphlet as well as “His & Hers” monograms. I question whether the “daintiness” of the Finger Towels would have been sufficient for the “ladies” of the time and if any “men folks” ever actually disapproved enough to request a larger towel? Perhaps what they all desired and deserved was in fact a guest towel of a more equitable size or a wider variety of sizes, regardless of gender.

Scrappy Lil Berea Ducks. 2026.

I then spent time in the Appalachian Teaching Archive with woven objects and the Fireside Stuffed Toys. I fell in love with a small stuffed duck made from a scrap of a Coverlet, not a toy ever put into production but likely the creation of a student gone rogue. The Student Craft of the past seemed rigid and stuck in a cycle of repeating pattern without fully engaging with meaning; whereas the Student Craft I have had the joy to spend time in is a holistic environment where student laborers are human beings and students first and foremost. They create new designs for products while learning from caring and knowledgeable staff. These Lil Scrappy Ducks combine a pattern from a potentially rebellious past and the contemporary materials of Berea Student Craft.

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Have you visited the new Visitor Center yet? #BereaCollege #Berea #CampusLife #VisitorCenter #StudentCraft

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If you like Appalachian Folk Art, you have probably heard of @bereacollege and may know they are a labor college in Kentucky. College students learn through class and labor. This amazing handmade cutting board was made by a college student and then hand painted. Such a unique and gorgeous piece. Just listed it on eBay. Link in bio. #bereacollege #bereacollegewoodworking #appalachian #folkartpainting #bereacollegestudentcraft

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😎 We took a family roadtrip to multiple National Parks: New River Gorge, Mammoth Cave, and Great Smoky! We capped it all off with a trip to the National Mall! What an adventure it was!
🏕️ We camped, hiked, tubed down rivers, explored caves, and climbed to high peaks!
🎢 We also enjoyed some side quests like a trip to Berea College, Buc-ee’s, Dueling Grounds Distillery, and Dollywood!
☀️ Are you going on an adventures this summer?

@nationalparkservice @dollywood @duelinggroundsdistillery @bucees @bereacollege @bcstudentcraft

#summer #roadtrip

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Congratulations to the Berea / Eastern Kentucky recipients of the Craft Catalyst Initiative, our new partnership with Etsy to invest in craft hubs nationwide.

Berea and Eastern Kentucky have a deep and longstanding relationship to Appalachian craft traditions—a place where independent makers, tourism-oriented businesses, Berea College artists, and production enterprises exist side by side, making craft feel woven into local identity and everyday life. Local makers describe a community defined by relationship: apprenticeships, maker-to-maker learning structures, and shared physical spaces that foster connection across a close-knit geography. The region's small scale is both an asset and a limitation—affordability and access to space remain relative advantages, while remoteness can constrain economic growth and access to broader support systems.

Meet the Berea / Eastern Kentucky Partners:

A creative economy anchor for Eastern Kentucky since 1999, the Appalachian Artisan Center (AAC) supports makers through workshops, apprenticeships, artist incubator spaces, and a marketplace supporting 330+ artisan entrepreneurs. Formed through collaboration with partners such as the Hindman Settlement School and supported by staff and a teaching artist network, AAC drives cultural tourism, manufacturing, and recovery-through-craft initiatives.

Berea College Student Craft program was founded in 1893 to preserve craft traditions and promote the artistry and industry of the Appalachian region. Throughout its history, it has provided thousands of students with a robust and tuition-free education in making in addition to fellowship and artist-in-residence programs.

Rooted in the legacy of the Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking and relaunched by Berea College in 2019, the Woodworking School at Pine Croft offers intensive courses ranging from two days to two weeks—furthering a 120-year institutional commitment to craft while offering makers a place to grow their skills, build community, and counterbalance a disposable world through the practice of making.

Swipe to meet the recipients in the Berea / Eastern Kentucky hub.

@aachindman @bcstudentcraft @pinecroftwoodschool

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🐢A herd of turtles or a turd of hurtles?💩

Did you know a group or tortises is called a creep? 👀

Did you know a a group of turtles swimming together is called a flotilla? 🐢🐢🐢

Did you know a round, flattened, corn masa bread is called a tortilla? 🌮

Did you know the the singular of tamales is a tamal? 🫔

¿Que hace un tamal en el hospital? ¡Ta malito! 🏥

The Berea KY Interdependence Day, River of Time art parade will be held on July 5th, a community art spectacle, mobile concert, and story performance.

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Broom Salon was 7 days of broom filled antics and exploration. Broom making is often so solitary so to be in community together was the greatest joy. Thank you so much to Amanda Lee, Hunter, Katie, Casandra, Ayumi, Eleanna, Frankie, Anna, Destiny, and Della for the opportunity to know, join in friendship, and to learn from each of you 🧹

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Thank you to the Berea College Film students, Bellamy, Brenda, Nova, and Maria for this 5-minute mini documentary about my practice!
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#fiberart #textileart #weaving #queerart #gayart @bcstudentcraft @bereacollege

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Baddies in the Game Parlor is done (as its gonna be). We had a blast making this table and 4 chairs with game accessories in two weeks. Thank you @bcstudentcraft for hosting us! #gametables #woodworking #woodturning #artistresidency

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Berea.
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I can’t describe how special this experience was. I learned so much as a broommaker and as a person from @pleasesendword , @hunterlvelliott , and the amazing Students who get to work in Broomcraft/Studentcraft as a whole. @jesseesatt was a great co-Fellow and roommate who I was lucky to have this experience with. Maybe when my heart heals a bit more from leaving, I’ll write more in depth about it; I always struggle to make follow up posts after these life changing experiences because of the heartbreak. I’m just too much a romantic, I guess (or maybe just enough).
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Long story short, the Fellowship Program at Berea College is an amazing opportunity for any emerging/established craftsperson in broomcraft, woodcraft, weaving, or ceramics who’s interested in production work and/or craft in a college setting. The position is paid full time and includes housing, you work with a pretty awesome staff alongside amazing students, you get an opportunity to create work, paid, for their collection, which includes an exhibition. I really can’t speak its praises highly enough, and will 100% be going back to visit these nerds as often as possible.
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IF YOU WANT TO APPLY: you missed the window for the 26/27 school year, but I’ll post the application call for the following academic year when it comes up. If you’re a friend or craft colleague that really wants to do this, message me and I will remember to pester you directly when the time comes, and am happy to talk about details and firsthand impressions.
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Another heart home added to the collection. Good thing I’m a boundless sea, or it’d be getting a little crowded in there.

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