June 15, 2011 - Manuel Cuevas is a costumer and an artist who has designed clothing for presidents, athletes, dancers, artists, and movie stars. Often referred to as the "Rhinestone Rembrandt," Manuel says "I do for artists what they need - not what they think they need." June 22, 2011 - Jeff Schmuki received his M.F.A. from Alfred University and was based in Gulfport, Mississippi until Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home, his studio, and the college where he taught. To this day he is still an itinerant, and moving about from place to place, with no fixed home, has become part of his creative practice. In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Jeff now specializes in using found objects and off-grid/renewable power technologies in his work. June 16, 2010 - Natalie Chanin is the owner and designer of the lifestyle company Alabama Chanin, which produces limited-edition products for the individual and the home, made by talented artisans who live and work in communities in and around Florence, Alabama. June 23, 2010 - Pam Dorr is the Executive Director of the Hale Empowerment & Revitalization Organization, Inc, (HERO), Housing Resource Center in Hale County, Alabama, working with local citizens to build energy effcient, innovative, cost effective homes for under $20,000 each. June 17, 2009 - Frank Stitt, owner of the Highlands Bar and Grill and Bottega Restaurant in Birmingham, understands cooking as an art and recognizes the influence of his personal life on his art. Frank's first cookbook, Southern Table, was published in 2004, and he has been recognized by Gourmet and Food and Wine magazines as among the top chefs in America, in addition to receiving the James Beard award as Best Chef of the Southeast. June 24, 2009 - Andrew Wagner, currently Editor of ReadyMade magazine and former Editor in Chief of American Craft magazine, is particularly interested in the decisions made in editing a magazine and what has gone into developing American Craft magazine into a leading magazine for American art and craft. Andrew was the founding editor of Dwell magazine and has been a leading proponent for celebrating the process of creating, in addition to recognizing the importance of the handmade object in today's society. June 18, 2008 - William Keener is the owner and operator of Sequatchie Cove Farm in the Sequatchie valley of Middle Tennessee. He has long been a proponent of sustainable agriculture, and from his organic farm he sells meat and produce to regional restaurants and individuals. Bill is passionate about the place of the local rural farmer in today's primarily urban society and in the art of farming. June 25, 2008 - William Christenberry is a photographer, painter, and sculptor who works with personal and somewhat mythical themes growing out of his childhood experiences in Hale County, Alabama. He has been photographying his home region of rural Hale County for nearly 50 years, documenting the changes that have occurred there over the years. He has become particularly well known for his photographs of the same structure taken over a period of years, showing the changes which occur through time. His interest in the Ku Klux Klan has also occupied him for many years, and he has an extensive collection of Ku Klux Klan materials - paintings, found objects, drawings, sculptures, dioramas, and fabric dolls of klansmen in their hooded robes. June 13, 2007 - Jeanne Brady and Tim Hintz Jeanne Whitfield Brady has run the Fibers Program at the Appalachian Craft Center since 1999. Her broad range of experience is evident in a fibers program grounded in well-crafted traditional, functional, and exploratory contemporary fiber forms and processes. Her husband Tim Hintz makes traditional ladder-back chairs using locally grown raw materials. He splits pieces from an oak log and shapes them with a drawknife, after which he bends, dries, and assembles the parts into a sturdy chair frame, weaving the seat from hickory bark strips. Jeanne and Tim live and work in Smithville, Tennessee. June 21, 2007 - Paulus Berensohn a renowned clay artist from Penland, North Carolina, describes himself as an amateur visual artist, a passionate deep ecologist, and a teacher of workshops in clay. He is a poet and a weaver, a philosopher and a writer. He speaks for clay's ecstatic, sensuous nature as the source of life on earth. As the author of Finding One's Way with Clay, he has influenced generations of artists in the basic technique of pinching clay. He describes his work as his attempt "to extend the expressive, to open for the receptive the physical, to include the energetic and the soulfull, to embrace the spiritual." June 14, 2006 - Alan LeQuire is a sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee, who has become well-known for his public commissions and sensitive portraiture. LeQuire believes that the human figure is the single artistic subject to which all viewers inevitably respond. Monumental, miniature, or life-size, Alan's sculptures manage to achieve a living quality, which contributes to a long-standing career of public commissions and a consistent demand for private collections. Alan is best known for two colossal sculptures in Nashville: Athena Parthenos, the largest indoor sculpture in the western hemisphere, and Musica, one of the largest bronze figure groups in the world. June 21, 2006 - Micah Sherrill is a self-taught painter living and working in Asheville, North Carolina. His mixed media wall works are filled with surreal and iconic images which he says "allow me to see a subject as I imagine God might see it." Micah has developed a unique palette and technique to use in expressing his artistic vision. Micah is the son of potter Michael Sherrill, under whom he apprenticed from 1999-2004. June 15, 2005 - Akira Blount is a doll-maker from Bybee, Tennessee. Beginning as a mother making sock dolls for her children, Akira's mastery of needle sculpting has allowed her work to evolve over the years into a highly personal and recognizable style. With her husband Larry, she now combines cloth and natural materials in her figures "to personify the spirit of nature as images of the playful, creative forces of nature." Akira and Larry live and work on their 70-acre farm in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, raising goats and dogs in addition to making dolls. June 22, 2005 - Dolph Smith is a book artist from Memphis, Tennessee. His home/studio of thirty years in midtown and the Memphis College of Art where he taught for thirty years were only ten minutes from where he was born. Until he moved with his wife Jessie to a new home/studio 50 miles away in the countryside in Ripley, he had, as he says, "not come very far in life." At Memphis College of Art Dolph taught painting and drawing in early years, and, in the late 70's, developed a Hand Papermaking and Book Arts program called "The Flying Vat." Dolph's art works ranged over the years from watercolors and drawings into years of paperworks and sculpture. Currently he is involved with creating one-of-a-kind handmade books. June 16, 2004 - Sylvia Hyman, renowned clay artist from Nashville, Tennessee, meticulously crafts trompe l'oeil sculptures that reflect her own interests and personal history - letters, maps, scrolls of sheet music, and books - into stoneware and porcelain, and then screenprints them with text, symbols, or images. She places fascinating juxtapositions of these clay objects in a variety of ceramic containers, from berry baskets and wooden boxes to a faux alligator violin case. Sylvia's sculptures inspire both disorientation and delight when viewers realize that everyday objects that appear to be made of wood, cardboard and paper are actually superbly realized simulations made of clay. Sylvia has been a leader in the ceramic world for nearly fifty years. June 23, 2004 - Andrew Saftel, painter and sculptor from Pikeville, Tennessee, primarily creates mixed media constructions on wood panels. In ihs work he chronicles his own personal and artistic journey while simultaneously evoking the passage of humanity within modern civilization. Often his work incorporates found objects that have an aura of historical significance. Andrew frequently works with public commissions as well as producing pieces which are collected by individuals and museums throughout the country.