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Rustic furniture, or furniture that is made of twigs and shrubs and unhewn logs, has long graced Western North Carolina homes, mountain inns and hideaway cabins. The abundance of materials like rhododendron, laurel and willow branches and roots, combined with the strong local tradition of craftsmanship, was naturally conducive to the production of individual pieces of rustic furniture. Although American rustic furniture is often associated with upstate New York�s Adirondack Mountains, the work produced in the southern Appalachians is of equal if not higher quality, although it has been less well researched and less well documented, an oversight that this exhibition promises to correct. Rustic furniture was well-known in England as early as the 18th century, and became something of a fad by the 19th century, but most of the identified rustic furniture made in the Southern Appalachians dates from the late 19th century into the 1940�s, due in large part to the influence of the tourist market. By the late 19th century the train had arrived in Western North Carolina and with it tourists seeking the cool air of the mountains, the touch of nature and something to take home with them as a reminder of their visit. In keeping with their mountain locale, many hotels and spas employed rustic fencing, bridges, railings and outdoor seating to cater to the interests of their guests. Photographers commemorating mountain excursions often used rustic background accessories.
In general it is difficult to trace the makers of rustic furniture, as many pieces of furniture are unsigned. Some were itinerant workers who moved from area to area to sell their wares or to trade them for other goods and services. The exhibition includes chairs, benches, tables, stands, planters, and easels made of hickory, willow, chestnut, rhododendron, mountain laurel, and oak, and cover the period from about 1900 into the 1940s with one contemporary piece for comparative purposes. The Asheville Art Museum is open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m on Sunday. The Museum is open every Friday until 8:00 p.m. Special docent-guided tour packages are available for groups and students. The Museum is located in the Pack Place Education, Arts and Science Center, 2 South Pack Square, in downtown Asheville. Admission to the Museum is $6.00 for adults and $5.00 for seniors, students with ID and for children 4-15 (children age three and younger are admitted free). Members are admitted free to the Museum. The Rustic Furniture exhibit will remain on display through April 7. 2002.
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Others opened their wagons or trucks at the side of the road to hawk their material to tourists driving by. Still others actually set up shops in areas frequented by tourists. One known furniture maker was Ben Davis of Burnsville, NC. An ordained Southern Baptist minister, Davis, who worked in the early to mid 20th century, often stayed in the homes of his parishioners and spent his weekdays digging and drying roots and branches of mountain laurel and rhododendron. These natural materials, usually combined with recycled lumber from demolished buildings, provided Davis with all he needed for his unique, rustic folk art furniture. 