Biltmore Industries Archive Exhibition Opens
in UNCA's Blowers Gallery

"Biltmore Industries," an exhibition of photographs, records and items recalling the history of one of Asheville’s foremost craft industries, will be on view through December 5 at UNC Asheville’s Blowers Gallery.

The UNCA exhibit is a collaboration with Grovewood Galleries Inc. and brings together artifacts and archives from the Grovewood Galleries Inc. Shops with interpretive texts by UNCA students, faculty and staff. UNCA provides access to this collection via the Internet.

Material in the collection records the activity of Biltmore Estate Industries, the Biltmore Industries, Biltmore Homespun Shops and Grovewood Gallery Inc. from 1901 to the present. Established by Edith Vanderbilt, the original industry included woodworking, weaving and ceramics and was located in what is now Biltmore Village. In 1917 Fred Seely bought the industries from Vanderbilt, concentrated the craft on homespun weaving and moved the location to new buildings near the Grove Park Inn. Today Biltmore Industries is owned by Grovewood Galleries Inc.

A small exhibit on the upper floor of the library traces the activity of three other Asheville craft industries: the Treasure Chest, the Three Mountaineers and the Log Cabin Industries. Eleanor Hall of Asheville loaned some items for this exhibit.

Blowers Gallery, located on the main floor of UNCA’s Ramsey Library, is open during regular library hours. For hours of operation, call UNCA’s Ramsey Library at 828/251-6546.

For information about the exhibit, call Helen Wykle, UNCA’s Special Collections Librarian, at 828/251-6621.

Media Contacts:

• Helen Wykle, UNCA’s Special Collections Librarian, 828/251-6621
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526