Students come to Student Craft with majors as varied as Nursing, Environmental Science, and Communications; few are pursuing degrees in Studio Art. As a part of the Labor Program, Student Craft’s fundamental mission is to support the endeavor that no student pays tuition. In this effort, since Student Craft’s founding in 1893, designs have been standardized and all work produced is sold. In 2018, Student Craft began realigning its mission away from history and heritage products to prioritize student-led design and to embrace the power of a holistic craft education.
The first student-designed product was the Rainbow Baby Blanket, closely followed by the Intersections Cutting Board. Both exemplify that this Student Craft realignment has brought renewed focus to the College’s commitments to impartial love and the kinship of all people. By 2023, 93 percent of the products for sale have been designed by or in close collaboration with students. Their identities and interests now guide what is made at Student Craft, affirming that inclusion and diversity are essential strengths to the program and its products.
There are approximately 100 students working in Student Craft who, together, produce roughly 6,000 objects for retail sale every year.
Streamliner Brooms Times of Day Series
Above: Sunset Afterglow
Below left to right: Midday Meadow, Golden Sunrise, Midnight Campfire, and Moonlight
2023-present
Sugar maple handle, tinned broom wire, synthetically dyed broom corn, braided cotton cord, hemp cord
With the goal of designing a new line of Streamliner brooms in mind, Broomcraft students experimented by hand mixing dozens of combinations of dyed broom corn. Out of those many creations a visual pattern emerged, driving the group to mix color schemes representing atmospheric light and shadow seen throughout the day and night. Through experimentation and heated discussion, students developed and voted on each mix to make these five color palates. Representing the passage of time visually through color is a playful way to talk about narrative in craft, and an inventive way to elevate a traditional broom design without altering its form significantly and still retaining functionality.
Forest Broom
2021-present
Red maple, tinned broom wire, hemp cord, naturally dyed broomcorn, and broomcorn stalks (dyed with walnut husks, osage orange heartwood, madder root, marigold blossoms)
The Forest Broom was designed with sustainability and handcraft in mind. Once a year, a group of Student Craft staff and students head into the Berea College Forest to harvest handles. Red maple is an aggressive tree that chokes out slow-growing hardwood trees in the area, so harvesting these saplings does a service to the forest and provides unique handles for these brooms. Because of the irregularity of the handles, they won’t fit into the machines normally used to wind brooms, so all are built, woven, and stitched without the aid of powered equipment. With the connection to the land being so important with these brooms, natural dyes are used to color the broomcorn and stalks.
Flux Collection Mug and Bowl
Ellen Schley
2023
Glazed stoneware
Rainbow Baby Blanket
Wes Hanson, Erin Miller
2019-Present
Cotton
Designed by student Wes Hansen (’20) and Director of Weaving Erin Miller, this blanket was the first completed project under the current student-led design directive. The Rainbow Baby Blanket celebrates impartial love, the foundation on which Rev. John G. Fee created Berea College, and demonstrates Berea’s commitment to the kinship of all people and gender equality beyond the binary. This design work challenged Berea Student Craft to consider the decades long tradition of prescriptive blue and pink baby blankets and reflects the deep and sophisticated thinking of Berea’s students.
Rise Throw
Erin Miller
2020
Hemp, wool
Inspired by blankets found in Berea’s Appalachian Artifact Collection, these hemp and wool throws will last for generations and grow softer with use. Hemp is one of the most sustainable fibers available and adds strength and durability; the wool is from sheep raised and processed in the United States and provides warmth. The unique arrangement of each design allows students to make decisions on the color and placement of stripes, meaning each throw is one of a kind, allowing every weaver the opportunity for design. Creativity and critical thinking are crucial skills to develop for a maker, and these blankets encourage Berea Weaving students to hone these skills while honoring the material.
Symphony Scarf
Leeroy Mabvuta
2023-present
Cotton, bamboo, tencel
This scarf was designed by Leeroy Mabvuta (’23) who created a treadle pattern by translating the melody of “A Beautiful Noise” by Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlisle into a weaving pattern. This song and scarf collection urges everyone to use their voice to vote and to express their identity and values.
Sunrise Mirror
Student Craft -Woodcraft
2023-present
Cherry, walnut, milk paint, mirror
This collaborative design was supported by Berea’s entire Woodcraft student crew. With a shape inspired by the sunrise and carved surfaces reminiscent of the trees of Appalachia, this project supports Berea's commitment to sustainable living and asks those interacting with it to pause and reflect on the value of a mindful, supportive, and sustainable community.
Intersections Cutting Board
Sharon Ngassa
2021-Present
Cherry, walnut, maple, mahogany
With lessons learned in Berea College’s Women’s and Gender Studies program in mind, Sharon Ngassa (’21) led explorations in Woodcraft on intersectional feminism and the works of Kentucky-native bell hooks, who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College starting in 2004 and until her death in 2021. Sharon designed the work to represent Berea’s commitments to the kinship of all people and gender equality in the work of the Student Craft woodshop.
Based loosely on diagrams Sharon had seen in class depicting intersecting circles of color as a means of representing both the differences inside individuals and the need for that difference inside any healthy society, these charcuterie boards provide the opportunity for student makers to customize the placement of every circle. They create a product as unique as each individual student who made them.
Dustpan and Broom Set
Student Craft Woodcraft and Broomcraft
2022-present
Dustpan: Cherry, brass
Broom: Naturally dyed broomcorn (dyed with walnut husks, osage orange heartwood, madder root, marigold blossoms), nylon, hemp, polyester tag
The dustpan and broom set is a collaborative design developed with the Broomcraft and Woodcraft departments of Student Craft. Staff and students worked for more than a year to create an elegant and functional design that pays gentle homage to the traditional Shaker box while retaining its own individual form. The rooster-tail style whisk broom is one of the most complicated hand brooms that the program has ever produced, requiring precise sizing and shaping to properly hold the dustpan in place.
Purpose Collection Mug, Bowl, and Pitcher
Leta Heighly, Megan Woolverton, Ellen Schley, Daisy Martin, Elsa Black, Patrick Bellando, José-Alfredo Ramos-Macias
2022-present
Glazed stoneware
Convergence Vases
Norman Teague, José-Alfredo Ramos-Macias, Elsa Black
2023
Glazed, slip-cast ceramic
Designed as a partnership among visiting Designer Norman Teague, visiting Craft Apprentice Jose-Alfredo Ramos-Macias (’21) and ceramics student Elsa Black (’23), this work focuses on Berea’s commitment to the kinship of all people. It is an exploration of the beauty that occurs when we create space for coming together despite differences.
Elements Baby Blankets (Earth, Air, Fire, Water)
Emerson Croft
2020-Present
Cotton
The Elements Baby Blankets were designed by then-student, now-Weaving Manager Emerson Croft (’21). The series aims to break free from conventionally-gendered pink and blue baby blankets through creative exploration of color and concept. The classical elements of water, fire, earth, and air have been used to categorize the complex material world into discrete categories. These elements are used through color in each design to conceptualize the spectrum of experiences beyond the gender binary. Each element is connected to a local natural landmark; Water to Silver Creek, Earth to Brushy Fork, Fire to Burnt Ridge, and Air to The Pinnacles. Berea’s commitments to the kinship of all people and to gender equality are foundational influences on this series, as they are a moral framework for the campus community. In this way, the Elements series acknowledges and honors Berea’s roots while moving the college forward to a more equitable future.
“Bell Patch” Placemat
Isabella Hernandez
2021
Cotton
Designed by Isabella Hernandez (’22), this collection was created with traditional Appalachian quilt making techniques and colors in mind. It is inspired by the College’s commitment to its engagement with Appalachian communities, families, and students in partnership for mutual learning, growth, and service. Bell is the middle name of Isabella’s great grandmother who was a strong presence in her family and a passionate quilter. Quilting can be a powerful community building activity, and Isabella celebrated that in this collection by allowing each student weaver to have an impact on the outcome of each piece that is woven. Weavers choose the overall composition of the placemat by rearranging the patterns and colors from a pre-selected list. This allows for visual continuity over the collection while each finished piece is entirely different from the last, celebrating the individual voice of each contributor in Berea’s Weaving studio community.
People Collection Side Rocking Chair
People Collection Side Rocking Chair
Katie Bister
2023-present
Ash, cherry, milk paint, lacquer
Continuing the lineage of the People Collection, kicked off by ceramic students Rachel Bates (’20) and Zoe Cowley (’20) and continued by the Woodcraft students in their design of the People Collection Stool, Katie Bister (’23) expanded the collection’s conceptual framework to explore the engineering challenges in designing a rocking chair for student production. It was important to Katie that this Windsor-style design was an active chair: a rocking chair without arms enables freedom of movement and allows for knitting, guitar playing, and other activities while seated.
Community Basket
Designed by Stephen Burks Produced by Student Craft - Woodcraft
2020-2023
White oak, anodized aluminum hardware
Led by designer Stephen Burks in partnership with Berea College Students as a series of five week-long workshops in 2019-20, these baskets are made with white oak bands joined by anodized aluminum links. Inspired by Shaker boxes, each basket demonstrates the strength achieved by a community of 146 individual pieces working in unison.
Historic Production Items
The objects in this section were made between 1920 and 2018 when the goal of Student Craft was, generally, to produce and sell a high volume of works at low cost. Rather than the program being assessed from an education-first perspective, accounting firms and factory analysts were contracted to assess efficiency from a manufacturing perspective. Goods were sold to automobile tourists at the Log House Craft Gallery on campus and through mail-order catalogs.
Despite the aim of efficiency, fascinating works that convey the story of the makers and the region persisted. For instance, the weaving pattern from the 1920-1930s purse is called “Barbara Allen” (and later called “Kentucky Rose”) and comes from the title of one of the most famous Appalachian unaccompanied ballads which has been traced back to the British Isles. By contrast, the “Auto Brush” broom from the same period demonstrates a forward-looking approach to craft by accommodating a new, ever more common, mode of transportation.
“Artcraft” Cobweb Broom (with hand carved “Princess Handle”)
Berea College Student Industries - Broomcraft
1950-1960
Dyed broomcorn, hemp cord, walnut handle
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2005.53.1
“Artcraft II”
Berea College Student Industries - Broomcraft
1925-1930
Broomcorn, hickory bark
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2021.5.1
Tic Tac Toe Marble Game
Berea College Crafts - Woodcraft
1990-2010
Cherry
Berea College Student Craft Collection, Berea, Ky
Finger Towels
Left to right: "Cardinal", "Kentucky Derby", and "Redbud"
Berea College Student Industries
1950-1970
Linen and cotton
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2005.61.2, 2015.3.3, and 2010.3.1
Finger towels, later called Emblem Finger Towels, were a staple tourist product of Fireside weaving from about 1930 to about 1980. They were small pieces suited to student production, yet exhibiting skill as the emblem was inlaid during weaving. They were small and relatively inexpensive, appealing to automotive tourists seeking a unique souvenir. They cost $0.85 in the 1930s, $1.95 in the 1950s, and $5.00 in the 1970s. Emblems offered changed over time. Custom monograms were available by special order until about 1970.
Left to right : Decorated Sugar Cube Set “Wildflowers with Unidentified Flags” and “Birds”
Berea College Student Industries - Candy Kitchen
1950-1963
Sugar cubes with hand piped iced details, paper and plastic box
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2023.8.1 and 2010.19.1
Student Industries used to be a wider subdivision of the Labor Program and included Fireside Industries, Woodcraft, Broomcraft, Needlecraft, Bakery, Creamery, a brick-making facility, Laundry, College Farms, Candy Kitchen, and others. While some of these services most benefited the local community–the College and town of Berea–goods produced by the Candy Kitchen could be sold outside the region just like the crafted objects.
The idea for hand-decorated tea sugars was suggested by Anna Hutchins, the wife of Berea College President William J. Hutchins (1920-1938). Students made the designs using icing while sitting at slanted desks similar to drafting tables. The Kitchen also produced assorted brittles and a fruitcake. By 1938 orders were coming in from movie stars and wealthy New Yorkers for their products. Almost too precious to eat, these delicate sweets found admirers nationwide.
“Corncane” Broom with Rattan Wrapped Handle
Berea College Student Industries - Broomcraft
1928-1940
Dyed broomcorn, wood handle, rattan
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2019.5.1
“Auto Brush” or “Fantail Auto”
Berea College Student Industries - Broomcraft
1925-1938
Broomcorn, raffia, wire
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2017.5.1
Framed Silhouettes
"Woman with Parasol", "Woman Reading to Boy", and "Piper and Goats"
Mountain Weaver Boys
1926-1941
Wood, glass, paint, scrap handwoven wool fabric
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2006.28.1, 2011.31.2, and 1997.36.2
"Barbara Allen"or “Kentucky Garden” Bag (Rose)
Berea College Fireside Industries, Signed Barbara Allen
1920-1935
Cotton
Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky
2021.4.1
Pitcher
Tambra Wayne
2007
Stoneware
Berea College Art Collection, Berea, Ky
2008.13.28
Vase
Jenni Koch
2003
Extruded Stoneware
Berea College Art Collection, Berea, Ky
2008.13.74