Stroll a world of crafts

Southern Living, Apr 2003 by Roberts, Carolanne Griffith

Head to West Virginia to find a trove of shopping treasures.

There's something about the Colonel Jackson rocking chair that makes you stop short at Tamarack, West Virginia's showcase of art and craft work. It looks antique, but when you sit, it's roomy-lots of space.

"Fred Friar makes the chairs," explains Tamarack's Cindy Whitlock, "but he's adapting the old designs of the original antiques. The people back then were so small and today we're so..." She's about to say in polite Southern terms that none of us is quite as petite as our ancestors.

No matter. You sit a bit longer in Fred Friar's chair and decide you're downright glad you live today. Bigger is better in every way, especially when you look at the wealth of craft work here-12,000 square feet of items created by 2,100 of the state's best and brightest.

On one aisle is a carved ambrosia table by John Wesley Williams, and beyond is the coffee table everybody's talking about. The $15,000 piece comes from Charleston, West Virginia, dentist Burl Jones, and it evokes a river scene. A bronze-cast fly-fisherman rises above the glass tabletop, which, if you can imagine it, acts as the river's surface. "This is our fifth table by Burl," says Cindy. "It probably won't be here the next time you come."

Yes, bigger is better-but it's not everything. You can buy one solitary West Virginia marble for 5 cents, a knot ring for $9, a quilted place mat for $12, ajar of creamy apple butter for $5, or a cedar chest carved in the shape of an Angus bull for $5,000. There's a West Virginia possum, which was crocheted by a little lady in the mountains, for $22.50, and trendy leather-tooled shoes with soles made from recycled tires. Cost per pair: $245. Artist: Mik Wright. Fans: Lily Tomlin and members of the Dave Matthews Band. "We can't keep them in," says Cindy.

Tamarack is laid out in a giant circle. You enter, turn left or right (left to the gourmet food section, right to the furniture and food court managed by The Greenbrier). Along the way you'll find West Virginia glass as well as baskets, jewelry, apparel, wooden toys, quilts, pottery, Christmas decorations, forged iron, and wooden birdhouses.

Five permanent studios, complete with working artists, give you a chance to see crafts in the making. There's blacksmith Frank Hedgecock III; fabric artist Elaine Bliss; glass artists Boyd Miller and Don Hamon; potter Rod Queen; and Greg and Tish Westman, who create the bowed psaltery. Psaltery playing makes a grand

finale to the visit. "I'll play it and then let you play it," says Tish, referring to the 12th-century Renaissance instrument whose sound makes you think of misty castles. "Anybody who touches it can play it. Sometimes on weekends we have 7,500 people go through, and probably 6,000 of them touch it."

You pick up the instrument, timidly aiming for "Amazing Grace," and the perfect tune flows forth. Truly amazing. A bit like this trove of West Virginia treasures.

CAROLANNE GRIFFITH ROBERTS

Tamarack: 1-888-262-7225 or www. tamarackwv.com; Exit 44 or 45 off 1-77/64, Beckley, West Virginia.