Artists display work at Heartwood Homecoming

 ABINGDON, Va. – Eric Bolling turns the crank on a small, century-old forge, stoking the coal fire before placing a small piece of metal into the glowing center.

 He pulls it out red-hot and begins to hammer it into shape, then sticks it back into the coals to heat it up again.

“Everything’s paying off this year,” said Bolling, a blacksmith who lives in Floyd County and said this year, for the first time, he’s starting to make a living from his art since he started selling his work three years ago.

According to his calculations, this year he’s making minimum wage, he said, as visitors watched him demonstrate his work outside Heartwood on Monday. Last year, he was only making $2.75 an hour.

He said the opportunity is only going to increase as he becomes more established as an artist and as more people come to understand the value of unique, handmade items.

He shared a sentiment that’s voiced often these days among those seeking to promote Southwest Virginia’s creative economy: “It’s better to have a few nice things than a giant house and several storage buildings full of cheap crap.”

Bolling was among several artists demonstrating their work Monday as part of the Heartwood Homecoming, the weeklong cluster of events leading to the regional artisan center’s grand opening ceremony Saturday.

Gov. Bob McDonnell and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., are among the dignitaries expected to attend the ceremony. Heartwood, just off Interstate 81’s Exit 14, is expected to become an economic development engine for the region, as it draws people in to experience Southwest Virginia’s culture.

During the week, billed as Heartwood Homecoming by the artisan center, several localities are represented each day by artisans, crafts, music and information booths.

“This whole project, Heartwood, is meant to be a gateway into the whole region,” said Todd Christensen, director of the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Commission, which is overseeing the project. “What we’re doing this week is bringing all the things from the region to Heartwood.”

On Monday, the localities represented were Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski and Floyd counties and the city of Radford. The displays featured musicians and artists working with various materials, including metal, clay and paper.

Today will showcase Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties, and Wednesday will showcase Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton. 

On the schedule for Thursday are Carroll, Patrick and Franklin counties and the cities of Galax and Bristol, and Friday are Smyth, Wythe, Bland, Grayson and Washington counties.

Saturday will feature artisan demonstrations, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with music before and after the 3 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.

John McEnhill, director of the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd, said that town’s creative economy has taken off only after a lot of collaborative partnerships – and a decade of local government investment in infrastructure to support the arts.

McEnhill says it all started with Friday night jam sessions and a tolerant small-town atmosphere in a place just off the Blue Ridge Parkway where the hippies and the farmers all get along.

Bolling said the center, a kind of arts incubator that offers classes in a variety of arts and crafts, has become an important place for exchange of knowledge and information among the artist community.

These days, Floyd is known for its music and artistic expression. Bolling said the town even features an artists’ market where visitors can buy everything from jewelry made of fungus to homemade didgeridoos.

He said the growth has come with a partnership between the town, which promotes the artists, and the artists themselves, who send customers to downtown shops to order more of their products, in hopes of helping the town revive itself.

“Without the town of Floyd, we’re just a bunch of artists sitting out in the woods,” he explained.

Bolling said he got involved three years ago when, after being laid off 19 times in 25 years, he thought he’d try something different.

“When I was doing job searches, I was taking classes in pottery,” he said. “I figured, ‘I’ve been out of work three years in a row. I can do at least that good.’”

He said in a place like Floyd, where help wanted ads are virtually non-existent, “If they’re going to want job opportunities, they’re going to have to make them.”

As he hammered out a decorative metal hook, he also talked about the pottery he makes and sells: often the stuff that’s different, or even the pieces that he’s not quite happy with.

He said a lot of the time, his work is also pleasure.

“You’re just breathing wishes into mud,” he said. “You’re making mud pies, just like a little kid out in the grass.”

dmccown@bristolnews.com

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