[piano intro] -[Deborah] Next on "North Carolina Weekend."

Join us from the Nashville Museum of Art at Duke University, as we explore creator's visions.

We'll visit a sculpture garden in the mountains, meet a beekeeping artist, and witness the craft at hand pottery.

Coming up next.

- [Narrator] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont, to 300 miles of barrier island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

And this week we are at the National Museum of Art at Duke University.

This 65,000 square foot building is a major center for the arts in the triangle.

Here you can see stunning works by a diverse collection of artists historically underrepresented or even excluded by mainstream arts institutions.

The Nasher is dedicated to stimulating the minds of people from all walks of life, with dynamic programs, including performing arts events, lectures, and social gatherings.

And here you can enjoy amenities such as a popular cafe and gift shop, offering Nasher memorabilia.

Wendy, we are so excited to be here at the Nasher, and I understand you have some very exciting news that's happening here.

Tell me about that.

- Thanks Deb.

Yeah, it's the best news ever in my opinion.

A $1 million gift from two Duke alums, Jennifer McCracken New and her husband, Jason New.

And because of their gift, we can offer free admission to everyone who walks in the door.

This is not only wonderful in terms of accessibility, but it embodies our mission, which is to be an inclusive, diverse, welcoming environment for everyone.

- [Deborah] What can you tell me about the history of the Nasher?

How did it all get started?

- Well, the National Museum was called the Duke University Museum of Art, and it started in 1969 with a gift of medieval art called "The Brummer Collection."

But the museum was on east campus at Duke University and it was a former science classroom building.

So the galleries were very tiny, the ceilings were low.

We had four parking spots.

And a Duke alum named Raymond D. Nasher was determined that Duke should have its own standalone art museum.

So he made this museum possible with his donation, and it opened in 2005.

- [Deborah] Well, the space is really spectacular.

Tell me about some of the exhibits that are here.

- Well, from the beginning, we have focused on modern and contemporary art.

[soft music] We've sought to grow our collection with works by global emerging artists of color, and artists who've been overlooked and undervalued by the mainstream art world, and artists who are reflective of our community, Durham.

We want visitors to come and see themselves in the art.

- [Deborah] It's really beautiful.

Tell me about some of the programs here at the Nasher.

- Sometimes I think contemporary art might feel intimidating to people.

So through our programs, we offer different ways in to see the art.

So music and theater, storytelling, dance, we have a lot of programming with American Dance Festival.

So I guess we lure people in through the programming and then once they're here, they will fall in love with the art.

- Well, Wendy, thank you so much.

We look forward to exploring more of the Nasher.

- Thank you so much for being here.

I'm excited to show you everything.

- The Nasher Museum of Art is at 2001 Campus Drive in Durham.

And it's open every day except Monday.

And remember, admission is free.

For more information, visit their website at nasher.duke.edu.

Surprises are around every corner here at the Nasher, just as they are at a free public sculpture park in the beautiful mountains of Lenoir.

So we sent John and Teresa Lisky to check out the Western North Carolina Sculpture Center.

[calm uplifting music] [mallet plunking] [calm uplifting music] - [Teresa] In 2019, Joseph Bigley and Zachary Smith-Johnson decided to take on the task of creating a center that focuses on sculpture.

They found their dream in an old gymnasium located on the Patterson School Foundation grounds in Happy Valley.

- Joe and I were originally looking for abandoned industrial space, as kind of a private art studio for the pair of us.

The opportunity came here, and with being here we saw the potential for a sculpture park, and the potential to not only create spaces for ourselves, but spaces for other artists.

- [Teresa] The vision for Western North Carolina's Sculpture Park Center suddenly became very clear to these entrepreneurs.

- It was an interesting time to start an organization about six months before COVID hit, but we've been diligently working as we can to build up both our studio complex, as well as the free public sculpture park.

- Beautiful settings, surrounded with hills.

There's a pond with lily pads and like a pasture area with some agricultural going on down there, and a lot of sculpture.

- [Teresa] With over 10,000 square feet and 30 foot ceilings, there's plenty of space for artists to take advantage of the educational programs offered here.

- Dedicated workspaces for some of our in-house sculptors.

We've gathered a wonderful team of people that share our vision and have a variety of skill sets.

So we've dedicated places for them to execute their own studio practice.

- This place is incredible.

It's like a place of opportunity for people, no matter their skill level.

It's a place where people can gather as a community and also for education.

It's wonderful.

- Primarily at the moment are focusing on metal based processes, including blacksmithing, foundry work or metal casting, metal fabrication and occasionally stone and mixed media work.

[welder sizzle] - I like to make things that it's not necessarily a copy of anything that you would see in nature, but it's something that you also wouldn't be surprised if you saw something this shape and this texture in nature.

As I was building it, I started to think a lot about my grandpa, who I lost in December.

And so this piece has kind of turned into a bit of a memorial to him.

- [Teresa] Once these sculptures are completed, many will be on display in the sculpture park for everyone to enjoy.

[calm uplifting music] - The sculpture park is ever growing the opportunity for artists and the community to come in.

It creates a space for dialogue, three dimensionally, which you don't see a lot of.

And it also gives the community a chance to interact with the artists that built the work, which is very rare inside of these types of institutions.

- Something that I liked about this, they made you kind of go down these little hills and look at the different sculptures.

And what really amazes me are the different ideas.

[Pat chuckles] You think that no one can come up with another idea.

- This place it's like a beacon of hope and knowledge for me, which is so extreme to say, and it sounds very corny, but I feel like there is a path forward in my life now, a path that includes art and sculpture.

- There's different qualities in every person.

And sometimes you don't know what the quality that you do have.

And if you could come out here and look and rest and meditate, something might pop into your mind.

- One of the things that really validates all of these efforts is seeing kids running around the park and having a great time outside of their phones.

And their interpretations of the work is fantastic.

To follow that up by encouraging them to be part of the process is endlessly rewarding.

That really becomes the fuel to keep this engine running, just in terms of fulfilling our mission statement and reminding ourselves why we're here.

[calm uplifting music] - [Deborah] The Western North Carolina Sculpture Center is at 4612 Patterson School Drive in Lenoir.

And it's open daily.

For more information go to wncsculpture.org.

Not all creators work in paintings and sculpture.

Some work in other crafts like brewing.

Clay Johnson met a brewer who is creating English style ale and food at two breweries in the mountains.

[upbeat music] - [Ann] The natural surroundings are spectacular.

- We're right on the Rocky Broad River.

We are looking up at Chimney Rock Mountain behind us.

And we just think it's a great spot, very relaxing on the river.

And we just love it.

[upbeat music] - [Clay] Hickory Nut Gorge Brewery and Chimney Rock is named for the Gorge, the Rocky Broad River runs through.

- [Ann] I think that the river itself makes it special.

- [Peter] Such a serene and beautiful place.

- [Clay] Mark Fretwell was born in England.

His father was a home brewer, but in the 20 years since moving to the US he's had trouble quenching his thirst for English beer.

- I mean, there's plenty of great breweries around it, but I wanted an English style be it.

I wanted it for myself, because I liked that, and I enjoyed that.

And I wanted to be able to share that passion with other people.

- [Clay] So he and his wife, Mary, bought this old barbecue restaurant in 2015, renovated it and opened it as a brewery the next year.

- I would work my daytime job all day long, and then I would come home and then I'd work in the brewery at nighttime till silly o'clock brewing.

- [Clay] Along with English beer, the brewery serves English food, traditional dishes like Fish and Chips and Shepherd's pie.

- We've got an English brewery.

We've got awesome English beer.

We've got English brewers and English owners, let's have an English menu, and we'll try it, and it works, and it works really well.

- [Clay] As pretty as the Chimney Rock location is there isn't much room to brew beer.

- We couldn't keep brewing in the closet.

- [Clay] After searching for a couple of years, they found this old 1947 theater in Mars Hill, just north of Asheville.

- [Merri] I just fell in love with it.

You could see its potential.

- [Mark] We've kept the history of the building as much as we can, but made it modern.

- I think the biggest challenge was probably because we're on a sled floor, and figuring out how we were gonna get the equipment in.

But we made it.

- [Clay] The front well's built decking for level seating and serving spaces and for their brewing tanks.

It gives brewer, Dean Atkinson, a great spot to practice his craft.

He has one goal in mind.

- To try and brew the best beer I can, whether it's something I brewed 20 times before, or whether it's a new recipe.

- [Clay] Seven of the 10 beers he brews are English.

- [Dean] Whether it be an IPA or a stout or a light beer.

- [Clay] Among the most popular are an English IPA called the River Otter.

- So it's more of a more backbone to it.

And it's hot, but not as aggressively as an American IPA.

- [Clay] Also popular as the extra special bitter called Brexit 1776.

- [Dean] That's a bit more aggressively hot, but it still has a smooth finish to it.

- [Clay] On the darker side there's the barking yourself mild.

- It's dark in color, but light in body.

Looks like a Guinness, but doesn't drink like a Guinness.

- [Clay] Atkinson says there's a little something for everyone on the beer menu.

- One of the most enjoyable things is to be sat at the bar and you don't announce that you are a brewer and someone comes in, orders a pint, and they say, "Oh my God, this is a fantastic beer."

- [Clay] The Morris Hill location has the same menu as the chimney Rock location.

[calm uplifting music] [indistinct chattering] And the front walls left several rows of seats in the middle to sometimes show movies on the big screen.

- Our philosophy for both of our locations is that we want to have a place where people can gather.

We want children to be able to come, families.

We want to be that spot where- - People want to go.

- People wanna go and just celebrate their friendships and their family.

[calm uplifting music] [water whooshing] - Where are you gonna be able to have a beer and see this incredible scene?

Watch over the Rocky Broad River, look up on Chimney Rock Mountain is the best.

There's breweries all over, but the environment here and the people coming from all over make this brewery very special.

[calm uplifting music] - Hickory Nut Gorge Brewery has two locations.

Their Chimney Rock site is at 461 Main Street, and their location in Mars hill is at 70 Main Street.

For more information visit their website at hickorynutbrewery.com.

You can find a creator's vision in something as simple as a dinner plate.

Let's meet the founders of a high end porcelain company that's creating dinnerware for homes and restaurants around the globe.

Come with us on a trip to hand pottery in Burlington.

[upbeat music] - [Chris] We've worked with over 175 restaurants around the world, from Middle East, New Zealand, out in Hawaii, coast to coast, north and south, worked in Canada, worked in Europe.

All kind of out of this little warehouse in Burlington that if you drove by it, you wouldn't know that that's what's going on.

Haand is a pottery studio based in Burlington, North Carolina, where we hand make porcelain items for the home and for restaurants.

- [Mark] Well done.

- [Chris] Both initials.

[Mark and Chris laugh] - [Chris] Mark and I both came into this with a sense that what we did with our lives mattered more than just having a JOB.

Oh wow, is that it?

- That's it.

[drill revving] - The early days of hand were pretty scrappy.

[Chris laughs] Maybe destitute.

- Dismal.

- Dismal at times.

[playful music] We worked, you know, everything was done outside.

I remember we were working under persimmon tree, and the persimmons would be falling out of the tree.

We nearly got struck by lightning that time.

[playful music] When you're working underneath constraint and when you have limited resources, it doesn't mean that you're limited.

- I'm always blown away by people's willingness to be brave.

And the things that they do, the plates that they make are brave.

In my business, primarily, what you see are people trying to be as perfect as they possibly can, because they wanna hide behind the artifice of perfection, rather than to expose their humanity, and what they're trying to create.

- These are hand finished plates.

So not each plate's gonna be identical to the next.

Each one looks different and they all stand out from each other.

[upbeat music] [soft music] - [Mark] I'm sort of thinking of a form for a long time.

[soft music] I'll just sort of be thinking about the outlines of the piece and I'll make drawings.

[soft music] And then I make a block of something and start to kind of carve it out of that.

[soft music] - [Chris] What I appreciate about Mark is that he's not concerned about trying to execute the drawing that he started with.

He's comfortable letting that evolve.

The way that something feels in your hand is considered in the design ware.

We are in the business of trying to make timeless objects that aren't based on trend and that are intended to be used to over lifetime and be heirloom quality.

And when you start with that mission, you need to make the product durable.

Porcelain is a wonderful material for that because it's a very fine clay that when it fires it shrinks significantly, it becomes very dense, much denser than most other clays, and that density is what gives a lot of strength.

[soft music] - [Marc] When they fill the mold with the porcelain slip, and then clean it up after it's dried, everybody has sort of their own unique way of adding to each piece.

[soft music] That's the beauty of the society.

And knowing people is that anytime you're talking to someone, it's gonna be a different perspective.

[soft music] Each piece being unique, I think sort of captures that.

[soft music] The casters put a chop mark on the bottom of each piece.

It's a recognition of their role in the process, and how important their skill and their craft is to the final piece.

[soft music] - When you go and spend time with Chris and Mark on site, and talk with them about the various plateware, know that they have spent countless hours working with folks who think about food 24 hours a day, and think about how folks experience it.

- You'll notice that this bowl has these steep sides.

Those steep sides holds the heat in.

It makes the aromas come straight up out of the bowl.

These are things that are very specific, that are not the generic pasta bowl.

[bowl dings] - [Chris] We've produced over 3000 different things over the last few years.

174 of them are on our website.

[soft music] There's so many things that we have here that are limited edition, small batch.

Where you can look at a piece and say, "Oh, I like this piece, but I like this color.

Can you make that for me?"

And you know, the answer's always yes.

[soft music] - [Mark] A picture or a video of something doesn't quite show the whole story.

You have to be able to pick it up and feel it.

[soft music] - Haand is located at 413 Tucker Street in Burlington.

And their showroom is currently open on Fridays only, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

For more information, give them a call at [336] 350-7957.

Or check them out online at haand.us.

Some creators get their inspiration from nature.

Let's meet Mary Garrison, whose love for food and nature has come together in a healthy, peaceful environment, that's not just for humans, but for honey bees.

[uplifting music] - Willabee's tagline is be the seed.

And that basically brings you back to the micro level of a seed.

But with that one seed, that one individual person, with that fulfilling its purpose, you now have 20 seeds.

My name is Mary.

I'm the owner of Willabee Market, located in Vass, North Carolina.

My market is a sustainable market that is focused on creating community and connection and alternatives to everyday lifestyle needs.

What inspired the market was a little bee that crawled up on my shoe, and he has become known to me as Will.

He had deformed wing virus, which opened my eyes to just this greater need.

We need solutions for them.

So that leads into how is our lifestyle?

What are the choices we're making?

You come into the counter and you weight it.

Then I go get some laundry powder.

That is made right here.

Weight again.

Okay.

This whole vision started with the smallest creator amongst us, which was the bee.

[soft music] It's a very personal thing, I think, to invite somebody into a hive.

You're inviting them into something that's very special to you.

Giving them a little puff of smoke, just to introduce.

Like saying "Hello, I'm here."

When I go out into my a apiary, it's a time for me to disconnect from a lot of chaos and connect with the bees.

It's like you're inside the hive at this point.

No one gets to see what goes on inside the hive.

I'm never scared.

I don't really know why.

This top box is a honey super, and this is where they would store all the nectar until it turns into honey.

And this is what I take.

I don't take anything from the two deep boxes, that's their honey for the winter.

I do think that the bees pick up on my mood and intention.

It's my form of therapy.

You can already tell this wax right here, how the different colors.

This has already been used for brew, versus like a new golden type of wax.

One bee's life cycle equals to one 12th of a teaspoon of honey.

As silly as it sounds, for Will, he had deformed wing virus and cannot fly, but everybody's born with a purpose, and his purpose was to raise awareness for his family.

So I'm just telling his story.

[soft music] We need more people acting more of like a hive, hive mindset.

This is Katherine.

- Hi.

- Each individual is making small changes, at least big habits.

And then collectively as a hive in a world we can shift replacing your plastic bag with a tote that you can bring.

And then it just trickles over into other habits throughout your home.

I partner with producers, creative artisans that have the same goal in mind.

- I know, my car smells like it now.

- I don't know where to put it yet.

- I did bring my refill.

- Yeah.

His name is Dan's wife is Amanda.

He is a active duty soldier and he got injured last year.

He's been pouring all of his attention and time into roasting coffee.

- Mommy, you're holding it so I can see it, for this.

So we raised forest pork, and this is one of our hams.

This is one of our Kubota sausages.

They live in the forest.

Get fed a large amount of soy-free feed.

Oh, the Kubota sausage is like the best sausage that I've ever eaten.

- [Mary] I hope that when people come to Willabee Market, they are left feeling full, kind of like the containers that they bring into the store to get filled up.

I hope that they get a little bit of connection, and I hope that they feel seen.

I think that when people feel full and seen, they are more encouraged to create small changes themselves.

- The Willabee Market Store is at 120 South Almond Street in Vass.

That's in Moore County.

And they're open Friday through Saturday.

For more information, go to willabeemarket.com.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We've had a fascinating time exploring the art here at the National Museum of Art at Duke University.

And remember admission is free now.

So come and explore it at any time.

And if you've missed anything in today's show, just remember you can always watch it again online at pbsnc.org.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

[uplifting music] ♪ ♪ - [Narrator] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont, to 300 miles of barrier island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[piano outro]