Tonya Harwood: Visual Arts
Tonya Harwood has been an art educator in WNC for more than 20 years. Her experience includes creating engaging art classes for both children and adults at Roots+Wings School of Art and Design in Asheville, art/literacy programming for libraries, and youth programs at the Asheville Art Museum. She is an active member of the Haywood County Arts Council and is always working on oil paintings or watercolors in her home studio in Clyde, NC. Finding inspiration for her art in our beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, she enjoys getting outside and taking in the beauty that surrounds us.
Terryll Evans: Traditional Dance
Terryll Evans began tap dancing at the age of 4 and continued through her teenage years, until her parents moved to Canton, NC in 1977. Soon she traded in her ballet and pointe shoes for clogging shoes and has continued her love for Appalachian Square Dancing since. Terryll has danced with the Smoky Mountain Kids, Soco Mountain Cloggers, Rough Creek Cloggers and is presently dancing with the Green Valley Cloggers, one of the oldest Clogging groups in the Asheville area. Terryll enjoys teaching clogging and square dancing to people of all ages. Clogging has been a mountain tradition for over 300 years. A tradition which needs to be passed on to the next generation.
Philip Shabazz: Poetry & Spoken Word
Educators have called Phillip Shabazz, “One of the most inspiring individuals in the arts.” He is the author of three poetry collections, and "When the Grass Was Blue," a novel in verse. His poetry has been included in the anthologies, Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont: A Guidebook, and Home Is Where: African American Poetry from the Carolinas. Some previous publication credits in journals include, Fine Lines, Galway Review, Hamilton Stone Review, Hamline Lit, K'in, Mason Street Journal, New Critique, the Sky Island Journal, and Thimble.
Guitar: Cary Fridley
Cary Fridley is an Appalachian singer, bassist, and innovative educator. Her style is rooted in tradition, and has evolved to embrace all styles of traditional country, blues, folk, and jazz. She is a published songwriter, recording artist, and bandleader, singing and performing in western North Carolina for over 15 years. She is currently a member of the Adjunct Fine Arts Faculty at AB-Tech in Asheville, NC, and teaches old-time guitar at two regional JAM (Junior Appalachian Musician) programs, Haywood County and Buncombe County. Check out Cary's website: https://caryfridleymusic.com/
Fiddle: Maddy Mullaney
Maddy Mullany has been playing and performing fiddle tunes since the age of 9. Maddy plays banjo, fiddle and guitar in various bands. Maddy studied Art with a minor in Traditional Music at Warren Wilson College. Since getting her degree, she has been on several music tours internationally, including a fusion project with a traditional band in rural China, and a tour playing for the Bailey Mountain Cloggers in Colombia. These tours culminated in recorded albums of Jenny and the Hog Drovers, and the Georgia Horseshoes. She teaches tunes learned from source recordings, by ear, with a focus on rhythm and bowing patterns
Banjo: Travis Stuart
Travis Stuart grew up in Bethel, a rural farming community in Haywood County, North Carolina. Travis along with his brother Trevor grew up immersed in the rich music and Appalachian culture that surrounded them. The Stuart Brothers traveled the globe sharing their fiddle and banjo duets,stories and songs. Always eager to share his music with the younger generation, Travis received the 2019 South Arts Master Fellowship to study cultural music education for youth in the British Isles and the Cajun Prairie of southwestern Louisiana as well as his native Appalachia. Travis has facilitated classes for the Haywood and surrounding JAM programs since its inception in 2000. He has taught at ETSU Bluegrass and Oldtime studies and currently teaches at the Appalachian music department at Warren Wilson college.