John C. Campbell Folk School’s resident clay artist, Mike Lalone presented a special “thank you” gift to Overlook Brasstown owner and developer, Blake Twedt. Lalone, representing over 25 artists who attended last month’s “Overlook Brasstown Music & Arts Fest”, created a beautiful glazed piece of pottery as a gift to express a special thanks from all the artists. “We were treated very well,” said Lalone. “They didn’t charge us for booth space, fed us lunch and gave out bottled water all day. It’s a beautiful place to have a festival and most of all, it helped the local food banks.”
Twedt has spent more than two years creating Overlook Brasstown, a 200 acre upscale scenic mountain property near John C. Campbell Folk School. “With our close proximity to the school and Brasstown’s thriving arts community, we want to be a part of it and promote the local arts, heritage and culture any way we can.” said Twedt , “Offering a venue for a music and art festival celebrates that, helps the artists and gives back to this community we are so proud to be a part of.”
Recently completed on the property is a custom designed water mill created from recycled timbers from an old cotton mill. The water mill house, complete with a 12 foot water wheel, includes hand crafted iron hardware on the doors that were created by another Folk School artist, blacksmith Paul Garrett. The structure will serve as the development’s mail kiosk and also as a site to promote local culture and art. “We’d like it to contain old photos of Brasstown and artwork from local artists on the walls, as well as information about the Folk School.” said Twedt, “This is a great way for visitors to get a sense of the arts community that surrounds us and the unique history of Brasstown.”
Photo Caption:
Clay artist, Mike Lalone (left) presents a special thank you gift to Overlook Brasstown owner and developer, Blake Twedt. They are pictured in front of the stone water mill house that is the hallmark of the property.
Be sure to visit our Western North Carolina Mountain Land at Overlook Martins Creek.
Blake (unauthenticated)
Sep 4, 2009 11:47 PM
I would like to thank Mike for the beautiful handcrafted clay piece. It is symbolic of our NC mountain heritage here in the Murphy and Brasstown area of Cherokee County. There are so many talented artists and crafters in the Brasstown and Hayesville NC area located at the shops of Brasstown across from Clay's Corner on old 64 and Brasstown Road. You can see and purchase their work at the John C Campbell Fall Festival on October 3rd & 4th. The mountain land is exceptionally beautiful as the leaves begin to change color to begin the fall season.