Roger Whigham - (Woodturning) Roger began his enjoyment of woodworking over forty years ago while building a mahogany coffee table in woodshop class. Retirement in 2010 allowed Roger to expand his woodworking hobby to include woodturning. Since then he has turned hundreds of bowls and has learned techniques to make segmented bowls and natural edge bowls. He most enjoys working with Black Walnut, a wood that is plentiful in the upstate.
William J. (“Joe”) Padgett- (Woodturning) Joe retired from the faculty of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, in 2003. During the more than 15 years since retiring, he has been doing woodturning, repairing and making stringed instruments (particularly guitars and mandolins), and teaching kids to play guitar or mandolin.
Ronald F. Wilson - (Spoon and Bowl Carving) Ron grew up in Pickens, South Carolina and is a graduate of Pickens High School. Ron’s secondary education includes a BA in Social Studies from Wofford College and a MAT in Education from Converse College. He served in the United States Army from 1969-1971. Ron retired from Pickens High as a teacher, athletic director, and football coach in 1999. Ron has always enjoyed working with wood. The carved bowls and utensils he made from locally sourced woods are a great addition in any home - both functionally and aesthetically. Ron enjoys sharing his carving techniques with others in his classes at the Holly Springs Center.
Decorative & Traditional Painting
Cheryl McMahan- (Decorative) Cheryl, since a young age has always been interested in creating art. Her journey has taken her through ceramics, decorative tole painting, faux finishing and murals. For many years, she wanted to explore painting on canvases. She was certified as a Wilson Bickford Trained Teacher in October 2014.
Terry Trambauer Norris - (Traditional Infusion) Terry's paintings are executed in oils using the traditional techniques of the old masters, infusing them with a modern sensibility and vision. She has been studying art since childhood, receiving recognition in high school and junior college before entering the Atlanta College of Art, where she studied design, painting, printmaking, and photography, emerging with the degree of Bachelor of Fine Art in 1985. After college, Terry began a dedicated search for a personal language that would express her developing vision. This led her to traditional realism with an emphasis on light and composition. Major influences are Chardin, Rembrandt,Vermeer, Whistler, Robert Henri, and Charles Hawthorne. This was supplemented with workshop study under Gregg Kreutz and David Leffel, as well as critiques and classes with Ralph Bagley, and a month of study at The Art Students' League of New York. The still life compositions are painted exclusively from life in order to capture mood and light. The atmosphere and physical presence of the subject are essential to the inspiration. Sketches and photography are sometimes used when painting landscape and portrait. Terry’s artwork has been shown in festivals, galleries, and national juried exhibitions, including The Oil Painters of America, Salon International, and The Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, and has earned numerous awards. She has taught high school and college level art classes and conducted painting workshops and demonstrations. From 2001 to 2010, she taught at Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, Florida, where she served as Director of Painting and Drawing from 2001 to 2004. Terry received a professional development grant from United Arts of Central Florida in 2004, and in 2006 was awarded an Artist Enhancement Grant from the State of Florida. Terry’s paintings have been selected for an Award of Excellence three years in a row in The Annual Eastern Regional Exhibition of The Oil Painters of America, and she was awarded Signature Membership status in that organization in 2009. After leaving Crealde in 2010, Terry taught briefly at local Art Associations before she and her husband, Arthur, made a long desired move to the upstate area of South Carolina. She will continue to teach workshops and classes in oil painting and color basics. Visit www.TerryTnorris.com to see more
Pottery & Mosaics
Lou Peden- (Pottery) Lou has been making nature-based pottery for almost 40 years. She often says that every piece starts with a walk in the woods. With degrees in art from both the University of Georgia and Arizona State University, she taught art at levels from kindergarten through college. Currently she spends most of her time in her studio near Table Rock, making pottery that blurs the lines between decoration and function. Most of the organic material she incorporates into 10 her art is from Pickens County, a favorite being the large Magnolia macrophyla, harvested from behind the Pickens Museum. She can be found every third Saturday at the Hagood Mill Historic Site, kicking an old-style treadle wheel.
Vaunda Browning - (Stained Glass Mosaics) Vaunda has spent the past twenty years perfecting what she refers to as free form stained glass mosaics. The ability to interpret her visions in glass is what differentiates her from others. She creates original artwork in a medium that brings together the skills of a Studio Artist, with techniques one can only learn from the success and failures of experience. Vaunda is known for her interpretations of mermaids and coastal life. Her true passion is for the process -- the process of taking an ethereal, sometimes fleeting idea, and transforming it with painstaking detail into a tangible piece of light, color, and texture.
Silversmithing & Jewlery Making
Joy Evans - (Silversmithing) Joy being of Cherokee Heritage, fell in love with Native American jewelry many years ago. Having a torching desire, she decided to learn and create the jewelry herself, hand hammering, stamping and filing each piece in the old Southwest Indian way. After a 25-year career as a design, advertising, and sign artist with her own business, she turned the page and began learning silversmithing/metalsmithing. Now 12 years later, Joy has taught classes in silversmithing and is the metalsmith at Hagood Mill. Her style of jewelry is loved by people with Native tastes and who want a unique and different piece of jewelry. Her website is http://www.spirithawkjewelry.com and she is the author of How To Make Basic Silver and Copper Jewelry.
Dr. Joan Cassidy-Huck- (Jewlery Making) “Dr. Joan”, as her students often call her, received her doctorate in 1992 in Human Resource Development from VPI. She then ran a successful management training/consulting business focusing on TQM for over 20 years. In addition, she was a management professor at UMUC and was the primary designer for their web-based management courses. She says,while in the past she used her creativity to improve organizations, she now channels her creativity into jewelry making. After retiring in 2008, she began teaching herself wire and other types of jewelry making. Then in 2011 she discovered William Holland Lapidary School(WHLS) and as they say, “the rest is history.” She has attended several times a year ever since and has taken multiple classes in silver, lamp work glass, polymer clay, enameling, cold connections, Precious Metal Clay, chasing and repousee and inlay. However, in addition to taking classes at WHLS, she has had classes with almost all the well-known polymer clay artists. She is now considered a multimedia jewelry artist where she often combines several media to make jewelry. She teaches jewelry making classes locally and at WHLS and is a member of IPCA(International Polymer Clay Association) and WESCAGEM (a gem society) in Greenville, SC. Her jewelry is sold in local shops and festivals each year
Gourd Carving, Chair Caning & Various Weaving
Debbie Wilson - (Gourd Carving/Weaving) Debbie a retired art teacher who has taught levels 3 years of age to adults. Patterns and textures in nature are the inspirations that can continually be seen in my original designs." I find it fascinating that what we think is so new and original, already is here for the observations in nature." Gourds, basket weaving and mixed media are the primary focus of art that I do these days, these mediums work very well for expression that uses texture, color and multiple patterns. Current interests include teaching gourd and basket classes, taking classes in watercolor, learning to make quilts, and making desserts. Also I really love coming up with recipes for The Hungry Drover, a local restaurant owned by my husband and myself.
Dave Lindsay - (Chair Caning/Weaving) Dave graduated from Western Carolina in 1972. Retired as school teacher. I taught Physical Education and coached at R. C. Edwards School. Being a member of The Seat Weavers Guild one of our goals of the guild is to share the seat weaving knowledge with others. Weaving and caning new bottoms into broken chair seats is relaxing and very rewarding. This is my ninth year caning and weaving chair bottoms. On occasion I will substitute for David Ammons at Hagood Mill demonstrating chair weaving.
Katherine Wagner - (Loom Weaving) Katherine is a Fiber and Textiles Artist originally from Ohio who has 6 years of experience in weaving/ textiles. Katherine attended Xavier University, Ohio where she received her BFA in Fiber arts in 2017. Along with fiber arts Katherine also enjoys working in printmaking and bookbinding.
Peggy McCarson - (Basket Weaving) Peggy has been weaving baskets for over 20 years and teaching for more than 15.She is a member of the Upper South Carolina Basketmakers Guild and has taught at many state conventions.She also volunteers at Senior Action.Peggy enjoys teaching beginners because they come with different perspectives that allow both student and teaching to learn.
Martha Parris - (Appalachian Cooking Class) Martha is an experienced cook who helps prepare lunches at the Hagood Center (formally known as the Pickens Senior Center) and presents classes on Appalachian cooking each summer for the Young Appalachian Musicians Camp, and for the annual Gathering on Appalachian Life. Classes will prepare a full menu which we will enjoy together at the finish.
Chef Karen Palladino - (Art and Craft of Cooking) Chef Karen before moving to South Carolina in the fall of 2012 was providing personal chef services for private villa clients and chef services for establishments throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands for the 8 years while living there. I reworked the pastry and bread program at The Buccaneer, St. Croix's premier resort, and was a Guest Chef for several Island restaurants. Prior to moving to the Caribbean I was the Executive Chef and Culinary Instructor for the Dilworthtown Inn’s cooking school outside of Philadelphia in West Chester, PA. I conducted classes in cooking and food pairing with wine and also coordinated presentations with visiting celebrity chefs and wine distributors. I was awarded best Chef dinner for 2002 by the Chaine Des Rotisseurs Philadelphia Chapter and 2003 for the Delaware Chapter while there. I started my own company in 1991 which I ran for about 10 years in Ohio. It was a highly personalized catering business specializing in wine related functions, doing private dinner parties, off premise weddings and receptions catering to groups from 8 to 400 people.
Herbal Wisdom & Gardening
Reba Kruse BSN/RN - (Herbal Wisdom) Reba is a holistic nurse-herbalist dedicated to empowering individuals, groups, and communities to achieve their best health. Holistic nursing is a specialty founded on the idea that the mind, body, and spirit are connected and seeks to guide individuals on their individual healing path. Plants are wonderful teachers and a large part of her efforts to help people find power and reclaim their own health. Her study and practice of nurse-herbalism is an ongoing passion and calling. Reba is a highly skilled, experienced nurse in the clinical specialties of critical care and school nursing. Also, as a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Reba follows the path of honorable warrior serving to bring healing to our returning veterans suffering from PTSD. In addition to herbs, her toolkit includes experience as a Reiki Level II Practitioner in Usui Shiki Ryoho, and Usui Komyo Ryoho (Chuden) traditions.
Susan Ralston - (Gardening) Susan learned to love all things gardening from her grandparents. Back then family vegetable gardens were a major food source and most folks had at least a small garden in the yard. She earned an AA in Horticulture and then successfully completed the Clemson Master Gardener program. Today she is an active member of the Pickens Garden Club and can be found most mornings working in her own gardens.