Celebrating its 15th year, the Master Artist Apprentice Program (MAAP) is a recognized cooperative partnership between the Tennessee Arts Commission and Tennessee Craft. The mission of this collaboration is to encourage and invest in the continuation, advancement, and creation of craft in Tennessee by recognizing the role of the master craft artist and apprentice relationship to preserve the state’s cultural heritage. This partnership provides craft artists with relevant and alternative educational experiences and promotes and facilitates fine craft as a viable career path for Tennessee artists through mentoring and professional development of emerging craft artists.

Artists:
Kayla Byrd (Johnson City/Washington County) - Apprentice
Byrd enjoys exploring themes inspired by shapes and textures found during her regional explorations of Appalachia. She works with a variety of metals and uses powder coating techniques, illustration, and gemstones to add colorful interest to her designs. She takes inspiration from nature, folklore, and traditional crafts to create contemporary wearable art pieces

Brie Flora (Cookeville/Putnam County) - Master
A graduate from MassArt with a dual degree in Metalsmithing + Jewelry and Art Education, Flora is an artist and jeweler.  She co-owns The Silver Fern gallery and fabricates wearable art and wall sculptures out of steel, brass, and silver and applies powder coat and illustrations to the surfaces. Taking inspiration from folk art, fantasy, and nature she merges her love for drawing and metal fabrication. Flora creates unique sculptural objects and wearable art and looks to achieve an organized maximalist aesthetic that celebrates pops of color, intricate marks, and illustrative forms. She has taught workshops virtually and/or in person at Metalwerx Studios, Pocosin Arts, Appalachian Center for Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Haystack Mountain School of Craft.

Apprentice, Buffy Holton (Lewis County) - Apprentice
Holton spent much of her artistic life as a photographer, with an emphasis on the patterns and textures in nature, and a love of working in the darkroom. When she retired in 2016 and moved from Nashville to Lewis County, she began working with concrete and mosaic. The use of stains and colorants, as well as stones from her rockhounding expeditions and found object mosaic materials fits naturally into her love of pattern and texture. She loves working with her hands to construct the pieces.

Carolyn Lowe (Greeneville, Greene County) - Apprentice
As a dedicated seat weaver, Lowe specializes in cane, shaker tape, fiber rush, plastic wicker, and paracord. Her journey into this craft began with a single seat weaving class that ignited a profound passion for restoring and revitalizing damaged and forsaken chairs. What started as a simple hobby has evolved into a lifelong commitment to preserving and enhancing this intricate art form. Inspired by the challenge of weaving seats that stand the test of time, both aesthetically and functionally, she began collecting old chairs and stools.

Doug Lowman (Telford/Washington County) - Master
Chair caning has a rich craft tradition in the Appalachian region. Lowman is a fiber artist who specializes in the seat weaving of chairs and rockers. In addition to cane work, he also weaves chairs and stools with flat reed and rush. In the early 1990’s, he caned his first rocking chair. After retiring from Eastman Chemical Company as a research chemist, he became serious about this craft as he explored refurbishing chairs and rockers. His finds in flea markets, yard sales, and antique malls turn into beautiful chairs and rockers using classic Appalachian patterns, such as Daisies and Buttons, Daisy Chain, Double Victoria, Spider Weave, Star of David, Honeycomb, and Lace as well as original patterns. His work has been exhibited in Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Ohio. Lowman received Best of Show recognition at the Summer Craft 2017 Exhibition in Tennessee. He also offers classes in chair caning and stool seat weaving. In Tennessee, he has taught at the Washington College Academy School of Arts & Crafts in Limestone, Jonesborough Senior Center, the Exchange Place in Kingsport, and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg. Through teaching classes, he has experienced the joy of watching new students struggle and succeed to learn the art of the handwoven caning craft.

Sherri Warner Hunter (Bell Buckle/Bedford County) - Master
Sherri Warner Hunter is a sculptor, teacher, facilitator, author, manipulator of tile, and a big fan of concrete. She received her B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute, and M.A. from Claremont Graduate School in California but thinks of herself as a lifelong learner, expanding on her skills through research, experimentation, and a few targeted learning experiences. About 30 years ago she and her husband, Martin, settled in Bell Buckle, where she established her studio, SWH Art Studio Inc. In 1995 Hunter received her first public art commission through a state-wide competition to create a sculpture for one of Tennessee’s Interstate Welcome Centers. Dozens of projects later, Hunter continues to create large-scale concrete and mosaic forms for exterior installations. More recent commissions include the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, Palo Alto, CA; Seasonal Tree of Life, Memphis, TN; and at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Hunter also has a passion for community-built projects. International, national, and regional organizations invite Hunter to give presentations and teach hands-on workshops.