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The 22nd Annual Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference is February 20 - 22, 2009!
 For the past 20+ years, Arts and Crafts enthusiasts, including new collectors, veterans, curators, craftspersons, authors, builders, architects, designers, editors, and bungalow owners, have traveled to the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville for the annual Arts & Crafts Conference and Antiques Show in February. The three-day conference is usually a sellout, with 1,500 attendees and more than 2,000 tickets sold for the antiques and contemporary crafts show. And winter is a great time to visit Asheville.
Education of the Arts and Crafts collector has been the goal of the annual gathering since the beginning. The event is unique for its full range of offerings for the passionate collector and those interested in the Arts and Crafts period. The three-day agenda includes lectures, small group discussions, special exhibitions, book exhibits, a contemporary crafts show and the finest of the antiques shows devoted to the Arts and Crafts period.
Dealers not only show their wares but also participate as lecturers and small group discussion leaders, generously sharing their knowledge with attendees, who range from entry level to mature collectors.
For details and tickets, go to the Conference website. Plus, read about other Asheville area art shows and events.
History of Grove Park's Arts and Crafts Conference
Founded in 1988 by author, collector and former high school English teacher, Bruce Johnson, the Arts & Crafts Conference and Antiques Show has been recognized for more than two decades for its dedication to the education of the Arts & Crafts collector. Each February Johnson brings to the Grove Park Inn the foremost authorities, authors, dealers, publishers, speakers and craftspersons from across the country - all assembled each year in one historic hotel for one historic weekend. New collectors learn more here in one weekend than they can in an entire year anywhere else. And experienced collectors keep coming back to renew treasured friendships and to increase their knowlege and appreciation for the Arts & crafts movement.
If you had come to The Grove Park Inn in 1913, you could have sat in Roycroft chairs, read under Roycroft chandeliers, relaxed in Old Hickory rockers, and purchased Newcomb, Pisgah, and Roseville pottery, along with Roycroft metalware and books. And, if you come in February, you still can!
Recognized for its emphasis on the education of the collector, this conference has set the standard by which other Arts & Crafts events are measured, providing collectors with the opportunity to see more, learn more and do more in three days than most of us could in an entire year. The seven seminar presenters arrive knowing that they will be speaking to one of the most demanding - and appreciative - audiences they will ever face. The leaders of the numerous Small Group Discussions are so enthused about their subject that they often volunteer months in advance.
And this is not 'just another show' for the 125 antiques dealers and craftsfirms. Most of the exhibitors spend months assembling their inventory for this show, for with a limited amount of booth space, they know they have to bring exactly what you are looking for - and at a price you can afford. Regardless whether you are looking for new or old, this is a buying show.
The Books, Magazines and More Show continues to grow in popularity. Here is your opportunity to get autographed copies of new Arts & Crafts books, find out-of-print reference books or one signed by the prolific Elbert Hubbard himself.
When The Grove Park Inn opened in 1913, it was hailed as "the finest resort hotel in the world." Illuminated with hundreds of Roycroft lighting fixtures and furnished with Roycroft chairs, tables, sideboards and servers, the Grove Park Inn was - and still is - a mecca for Arts & Crafts enthusiasts. The 142 original rooms in the Main Inn have been carefully restored to retain their Arts & Crafts flavor, as well as most of their original Arts & Crafts furnishings.
Reserve your tickets and room reservations early. Grove Park and most of the nearby bed and breakfast inns sell-out. |
