OUR HOURS Tuesday - Friday: 10:00 - 4:00 Saturday: 10:00 - 1:00 Sunday - Monday: Closed |
OUR MISSION is to enhance the quality of community life by fostering broad participation in the visual and performing arts. |
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| 34 Melrose Avenue, Tryon, NC, 28782 Phone: 828-859-8322 Fax: 828-859-0271 |
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The Town of Tryon has been home to many
residents with artistic abilities and talents. In the
1950's various individuals worked unofficially to
offer space in their homes to work on handicrafts or
fine arts.
In the winter of 1959 Tryon was hit by a blizzard the
likes of which local residents had never experienced in our area
before. One local resident, Grace Hall, who had been trapped in her home
for three weeks because of the snow, wrote to the local paper, the Tryon
Daily Bulletin, to express the need for a local crafts center to instruct and
encourage “leisure time” talents for area residents so that, heaven forbid
another blizzard, they would have something to do with their time.
This simple letter seemed to engage the community with the idea of a
crafts center and letters were written and published for weeks in the local
paper promoting this same idea. Finally, in April of 1960, area residents
were informed of a meeting in the old Oak Hall Hotel to discuss this very
idea and to gauge the community's interest. In addition to compiling an
inventory of local talents, some 200 area residents pledged a $1.00
membership fee in support of this fledgling organization which would later
be known as Tryon Crafts, Inc.
The various groups of folks who had met in local homes were pulled
together to form the beginnings of an arts and crafts coop selling work
and teaching classes and featuring guest artist and artisans. A series of
articles about this new arts and crafts group appeared in the Asheville
Citizen-Times. There was tremendous interest by local residents and
businessmen in recapturing Tryon's history as an artist's colony.
Tryon Crafts founding members were made up of influential citizens in the
area like architect Carter Brown and Tryon philanthropist Mrs. Violet L. E.
Parish-Watson. After operating in the location of The Book Shelf in the old
Preston Building, Tryon Crafts took residence in the new Tryon Fine Arts
Center in 1969. In 1986, the Tryon Fine Arts Center acquired the building
known as Cate-Hall Weaving cottage. The annex known as the Arts Pallet
was donated to the center around the same time and pottery and lapidary
were added to the curriculum.
In 2004 the organization changed its name to Tryon Arts & Crafts. This
was done to accurately reflect the group's broad mission. In the summer of
2006 the organization purchased and began renovation of part of the
Tryon Middle School. The relocation to this facility, 373 Harmon Field
Road, was completed September 2006. The larger space means a
broader range of classes in the future as well as a larger area to
showcase and sell quality handcrafted products.
For more information, visit their website at
www.tryonartsandcrafts.org
residents with artistic abilities and talents. In the
1950's various individuals worked unofficially to
offer space in their homes to work on handicrafts or
fine arts.
In the winter of 1959 Tryon was hit by a blizzard the
likes of which local residents had never experienced in our area
before. One local resident, Grace Hall, who had been trapped in her home
for three weeks because of the snow, wrote to the local paper, the Tryon
Daily Bulletin, to express the need for a local crafts center to instruct and
encourage “leisure time” talents for area residents so that, heaven forbid
another blizzard, they would have something to do with their time.
This simple letter seemed to engage the community with the idea of a
crafts center and letters were written and published for weeks in the local
paper promoting this same idea. Finally, in April of 1960, area residents
were informed of a meeting in the old Oak Hall Hotel to discuss this very
idea and to gauge the community's interest. In addition to compiling an
inventory of local talents, some 200 area residents pledged a $1.00
membership fee in support of this fledgling organization which would later
be known as Tryon Crafts, Inc.
The various groups of folks who had met in local homes were pulled
together to form the beginnings of an arts and crafts coop selling work
and teaching classes and featuring guest artist and artisans. A series of
articles about this new arts and crafts group appeared in the Asheville
Citizen-Times. There was tremendous interest by local residents and
businessmen in recapturing Tryon's history as an artist's colony.
Tryon Crafts founding members were made up of influential citizens in the
area like architect Carter Brown and Tryon philanthropist Mrs. Violet L. E.
Parish-Watson. After operating in the location of The Book Shelf in the old
Preston Building, Tryon Crafts took residence in the new Tryon Fine Arts
Center in 1969. In 1986, the Tryon Fine Arts Center acquired the building
known as Cate-Hall Weaving cottage. The annex known as the Arts Pallet
was donated to the center around the same time and pottery and lapidary
were added to the curriculum.
In 2004 the organization changed its name to Tryon Arts & Crafts. This
was done to accurately reflect the group's broad mission. In the summer of
2006 the organization purchased and began renovation of part of the
Tryon Middle School. The relocation to this facility, 373 Harmon Field
Road, was completed September 2006. The larger space means a
broader range of classes in the future as well as a larger area to
showcase and sell quality handcrafted products.
For more information, visit their website at
www.tryonartsandcrafts.org
