About the Arkansas Craft School
Support for the Arkansas Craft School is provided, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Arkansas Craft School, located in Mountain View, Arkansas, is a 501.c.3 educational corporation. The School grew out of a long range planning process of the Arkansas Craft Guild which indicated a need to provide a training and support system for new and young artisans and practicing artisans in the state of Arkansas. Hand made craft, in its many forms, is a primary industry throughout the state and especially in the Ozark region. The 2007-2008 study commissioned and funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation indentified the creative economy as the third largest industrial-business complex in Arkansas. The work force of that complex requires specialized training of artistic and industrial artisans. The Arkansas Craft School is designed to provide a comprehensive program of specialized vocational training.
The Mission of the Arkansas Craft School is to educate aspiring and practicing craft artisans for success in the creative economy.
The Artistic Focus of the Arkansas Craft School is traditional and contem-porary two and three dimensional arts and crafts, including forms in metal, clay/ceramics, fiber, wood, glass, and other media.
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Board of Directors
Mike DeLong (President) – Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Ozarka College
Leo Sutterfield (Vice President; Chair Finance) – President, First Service Bank of Mountain View
Sharon Mills (Treasurer) – Branch Manager, Citizens's Bank, Mountain View
Mike Luster (Secretary) – Director, Arkansas Folk Life Program
Gin Brown (Chair Program/Curriculum)– Campus Coordinator, Ozarka College, Mountain View
Cheri McKee-McSwain (Chair Personnel) – Instructor, Arts and Humanities at Ozarka College
Virginia Annett (Chair Development) - Former adjunct professor concentrating on Special Education issues. Currently serves on the Boards of the following organizations: "Olde Main Street Arts Center", "Applied Arts, Inc.", "Michael Annett and Associates" and is Educational Consultant for "Friends of the Kaw". Clay artist.
Jane Parker - former professor of Anthropology at UACCB and current Board member of the Ozark Foothills Film Festival. Fiber artist.
John Perry - Craft Interpreter at the Ozark Folk Center; Potter.
John Tyler Henderson
Jeanette Larson (Ex Officio) - Board President of the Arkansas Craft Guild, Craft Director, Ozark Folk Center State Park, Weaver.
Grady Spann (Ex Officio) – General Manager, Ozark Folk Center State Park
ADVISORY BOARD
Andrei Codrescu - Writer, Poet, MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English at LSU; NEA Fellow and NPR Commentator.
Wright Pillow - Founding Director Arkansas Craft School.
Pat Cash – Vice President, Citizens Bank of Mountain View and owner of Cash’s White River Hoedown and Aunt Minnie’s Little Yellow House
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Executive Director
Terri Van Orman– Fiber Artist; Former Craft Director at the Ozark Folk Center
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