Amazing place with incredible works (costly, but hand made and beautiful)

Such a gem in the western part of North Carolina. We were smitten the moment we walked in and had some extended conversation with women artists who were spinning, the woman who was making loomed fabrics and the talented basket weaver. The exhibits are thought provoking. This is a national park and treasure!

Tight quarters during Covid times, but you will find some one of a kind object. Some serious, some funny, some historical and some beautiful

Well worth the time time. Upstairs are displayed artwork, both part of a permanent collection and rotating exhibitions. On the first floor is a great shop selling the work of local artists and craftsman. Ranging from inexpensive items to very pricey works of art. Great place for buy gifts yourself and others. A must see along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Wow! What a surprise treat this was! My three-year-old son and I were in here for about an hour. Tons of crafts in an upstairs and downstairs setup. The gift shop was so cool. Its full of assorted crafts...paintings, soaps, stuffed ànimals, clothing, etc. When were there, a man was playing the bagpipe. That was neat to hear. Great place to take a break when youre on the parkway. Stop in and pick up some lovely crafts or souvenirs, and meet some locals! Glad we dropped in.

Such nice people, often a live demonstration showing how things are made, cool little shop.

Folk Art Center was amazing! So much beautiful art work and souvenirs. Could have spent a couple hours there but other family members were finished. I will deffinately be back! Staff was super friendly and helpful also.

Didnt go inside but the short Forest trail was nice and picnic tables were appreciated

Very interesting look into history and craftmanship. Wont take long. Right off the parkway.

Amazing collection of awe inspiring items! Friendly and knowledgeable staff. A must see!

Awesome collections in a beautiful setting, all kinds of art works to buy ,well worth the visit. I will be back

It has an interesting mixture of folk art to view and buy. There are lovely pieces but a bit over priced.

Beautiful art! Dont miss the galleries. The craftsmanship is amazing.

Love the demonstrations from the fabric artist and glassblower!! Its amazing to see them create their masterpieces

The Folk Art Center near Asheville is a feature of the Blue Ridge Parkway, exhibiting an ever evolving collection of art and crafts produced in the Appalachian s southern highlands. En route to Mount Mitchells lofty 6,600-odd foot summit in one direction and Asheville in the other, this beautifully designed building warrants a visit whether you are a local or a tourist.

Heritage, history, artistic creativity all on exceptional display. Fantastic experience.

Best place in Ashville. wear a mask and enjoy yerself.

Amazing beautiful place where you can be surrounded by the amazing scenery of Western North Carolina outside, but inside you will find the most amazing beautiful hand crafted items made by the hands of those who live in these mountains. A must visit if you are on a trip to Western North Carolina!

This place was beautiful! When we went, there were a couple artists displaying their work and it was beautiful to watch them in action. Theres a downstairs gallery and upstairs had even more beautiful and unique pieces on display. Every staff member I came into contact with was extremely friendly and welcoming. Also loved both shops downstairs, got some cool souvenirs! Amazing experience, will definitely want to come back!

Wonderful place to brose and buy.

Wonderful experience and beautiful, hand-crafted artisanal artworks.

Really incredible place. Lots of wonderful artifacts stretching back over two centuries from what I saw. There is also a really great gift shop with tons of handmade local stuff. Its pricey but it proceeds small businesspeoplw and also the blue ridge parkway.

The best craft exhibit to find in the Smokey Mtns.

Really nice place with so much art to view and purchase. Local handmade items that are unique that you wont find anywhere else. Items for sale are pricey, but for the work involved in creating them you will see why. Not recommended for small children.

Great art little expensive but nice

Definitely a must visit art center if in the area. Great selection of very attraction art work of various medium by local artist and artisans. Items can be purchase here. Local artist are featured on location. Small by good museum of local works of art on premise. Highly recommend.

What a lovely collection of hand made high quality items.

The art is cool but everything is overpriced even if the money goes to donations.

I do recommend this place.

Its nice to stop by and check out the Folk Art Center. Its freee to browse and the staff are helpful and knowledgeable. You may even find a treasure to take home with you. They have a variety of things to interest you and some information about the history and products. A great way to get out of your vehicle and see some great items. If this was helpful, please hit the thumbs up like.

Great place to find local art outside of the expensive galleries of Asheville.

It is not like regular people stuff it has Style in the old fashion history way.

Beautiful art! Amazing gallery and shop for one of a kind pieces. Old craftsmanship with modern twists. Educational displays to weave more history into the gallery. Will definitely go again.

It is very neat , but like others have stated the arts and crafts items are expensive though the cost goes to supporting the local artists. Still its fun to walk though and check out. Worth a stop if you are visiting the area.

Friendly, neat place to see alot of talent and history.

Okay I will admit and say that I am not an art guy but this place felt like just another gift shop with really expensive stuff. Almost half of the things were just ordinary households things that you can find almost anywhere. There were few things which I can call art and showed interesting perspective. You can spend about 20 mins or so. I wouldn’t buy anything which looked 5-10 times expensive than what it should be. But may be its just me.

Great place to stop before heading to Mt . Mitchell!Take your time and slow down. :-)

Great pieces of art, high prices though.

A treasure. Live demonstrations by artisans. Beautiful hand crafted items available to purchase. All in a lovely setting on the fabulous Blue Ridge Parkway, yet easily accessible from routes 70 and 40.

Been to a lot of craft centers and this one was the best

Great place to see mountain arts and crafts and learn about the history of folk art trade in NC. There are items for sale and exhibitions from various artists.

Great art and people! Cool products you won’t see anywhere else.

Gorgeous handmade items. I spent time shopping for Christmas items early. So much to choose from. Blown glass, pottery, bees wax candles and candle holders, woven capes, hats, quilts, notecards, stained glass, hammered metal items, turned wood items and more. So much to choose from. Definitely heafding back even though I live 3.5 hours away.

Beautiful displays from mountain artists. Also a well arranged shop with many more mountain crafts.

Extraordinary collection for display and top quality art for sale.

Worth a visit when in Asheville. Small permanent exhibit of Appalachian crafts, along with a large store of crafts for sale.

Wonderful mix of old and new. Learn the history of North Carolina folk art and view and purchase modern works of art. Great staff and a perfect setting just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Interesting place, prices are a little high

Beautiful items here! Its a bit pricey for my taste, but it was fun to just look around.

Some lovely local crafts, especially quilts on display. Long line for a special event made the roomy facility a bit crowded.

This place is absolutely wonderful and delightful! There is a wide variety of folk art crafts, Modern Art, and ancient art, including welding, wood, and fabric in clothing that is just delightful an amazing. This is a good place to stretch your legs and bring your family. There is also a trail nearby and the views are spectacular from the top of the hill behind the center. I must stop on your

Beautiful place to visit, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Folk art of all sorts, with a permanent collection and displays by local artists with items for sale. Today there was a glass blower and bead maker working on site. There are textiles, pottery, furniture and art of all sorts.

The white trail from the parking lot of the folk art center is amazing! We hiked to the fork of the mountain to sea trail and back. Mandrake, dogwood, and so many other plants I have never seen before.

Expensive, but a nice experience

Beautiful location on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway with the most fantastic art pieces on display and sale for many local artisans.

My family and I came here with the intention of spending a few hundred dollars on a souvenir from our trip made by a local artisan. Unfortunately, the first person we encountered that spoke to us was pretentious and snotty. I inquired about a beeswax item, and she told me she was not an artist and only represented the artist of the item in question. She then rudely informed me that I should read the one paragraph computer printout posted with scotch tape on the display. We promptly decided to leave and not waste our money on people with such terrible attitudes. I would not stop here. Even though this woman claimed to represent the artist she was either uninformed on the art or too snobby to be bothered with any questions. We decided to spend our money elsewhere, and if we are ever in the area, we wouldnt come back here.

Beautiful heritage pieces: including stoneware, woodworking, fabric, quilting, knick knacks, ornaments, jewelry, felting and more created by local artists. There’s also a gift shop. This weekend they had a couple of artists demonstrating their craft and it was great to observe! They’ve also got a permanent exhibition on some of the trades of the 1800s and 1900s in the mountains.

Educational, extraordinary, inspiring!

Perfect place to visit on the Parkway and purchase some locally made quality crafts. They have very good quality crafts and souvenirs. I really enjoyed the different quilts . The mountain to Sea trail is also near by and you can take a nice walk in the woods.

Very pricey

Best place for the most beautiful handmade local artisan gifts!

A good visit...wish it werent so pricey.I understand that a worker is worth his/her wages, but we came ready to spend a modest amount of money out of our modest vacation budget. It was beautiful to browse at all the handiwork of the local artists, but sadly, we couldnt afford to take much home with us. Gorgeous center with friendly, helpful staff.

A must visit for people who enjoy and/or make fine folk art. Fabulous collection to see. Nice variety if you want to buy.

I was driving to Asheville on a vacation and saw the sign for Folk Art Center and I had to stop. Really glad I did! If youre into Folk Art, this is your place! If youre not into Folk Art, then 1) why did you stop? and 2) why write a negative review when it turns out its exactly what the name says?In any case, Im not someone who likes quilts, but there were so many AMAZING quilts there for display that I had to take pictures. (Other things you werent allowed to take pictures of for understandable reasons.) They have a small shop for us tourists with the nicest staff. They have gorgeous pottery, jewelry, art, and a lovely museum upstairs. Definitely worth the stop!

I am an artist and appreciate the work. I love the creativity.

The Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art Center is located along the Blue Ridge Parkway. They have exhibits of Appalachian crafts and sometimes have live demonstrations. The crafts include both traditional ones and more modern techniques. Its always interesting to browse and see the creativity and amazing skills of the artists and crafts people. I admire the time and devotion to the crafts. There are art pieces and crafts to purchase as well as those on exhibition. There is a field up on the hill behind the Center with large oak trees where Ive had picnics or run my dog. Definitely a place to visit if you are in the area.

Must-visit if you are heading to Blue Ridge and Asheville. Well-maintained and family-friendly collection of local art. Can spend easily 45 mins to an hour here. There was some artwork I had never seen before ! There is a small National Park Services General info station here as well.

Great place with plenty of parking and access to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

There is a huge variety of beautiful and interesting art here. Whether youre looking to buy or just appreciate art, this place is well worth the stop.

Nicely done arts and crafts.

A beautiful place! The store is like a museum...with quilts, pottery, pictures, etc. All hand made. Love it!

Love this place.

Very cool stuff

Im not into folk art, but this place was pretty cool. Lots of neat local art. Nice afghans.

For display and sale of artworks

Excellent collection and display of local artist work. Both historical and contemporary, many of the fabulous pieces are for sale!

My rating is based on visits to the centers grounds and not the items for sale. I would not buy anything here, but I love to walk around. There are some trails and this is good place to start out for a walk.

An absolutely must go and view. There are so many artists and items to view and purchase. I made some purchases recently and a few years ago as I keep going back and I cherish every item. There is everything you can think of made my skilled artisans from jewellery, to pottery and textiles. So many beautiful things that it is so hard to choose.

Amazing display of local folk art. There was a lady with pottery wheel giving demonstrations of her craft. Free and definitely worth the stop!

Not a family trip.Will mostly interest the more senior members of your group.

Creativity abounds! Awesome display of Highlands craftsmanship. Thanks to all of the artists.

Wonderful little place to stop at nestled right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its worth it just to walk around outside as well as in. It is huge inside with an art show, wonderful gift shop, classes and much more. Plenty of parking and clean bathrooms.

Love to see all the great crafts. Bailey remembers my dad doing a lot the different things.

Make sure you stop here if you have a chance. Purchase something nice for your home or a gift from a local artist and support them! Pass on the cheap crap at a big box home store buy something of value that may become and heirloom one day!

Cool stop on the blue ridge. Interesting museum and store to buy souvenirs.

Wonderful. staff very helpful. beautiful displays

Wonderful art and diversity of artists. One of my favorite galleries in Asheville... The owner is incredibly warm and helpful...she even remembered that I had visited 2 years ago.

Top quality crafts from long ago and today. Many wonderful items for sale as well. .

Very nice collection of unique items. Nice facility. Unfortunately there is a volunteer working the upstairs exhibit with primary interest in leaving and lacking appreciation for customers / public visiting. Unfortunate that her primary interest was making aure husband and I were out of the building before 6pm closing. Even asked her if her clock indicated 6pm or later and she insisted it would soon be and we should leave. Sour taste left as final impression after numerous prior visits and money spent.

The Asheville Folk Art Center is always fun to visit, but in the Fall, when the leaves are turning, it is extra beautiful. Today there were glass blowers making pumpkins outside the building.

This place is quite large and had many works of art. Very enjoyable and inspirational. You have to stop in while traveling the Blue Ridge Pkwy.

Wonderful art. Inspiring designs and pieces. Well worth the price tag on these one of a kind masterpieces.

Were I a grandparent interested in nik-naks to fill my house, and was rather wealthy, this might be a fantastic place for me. The gallery is nice, and perhaps if there was some love class or demonstration going on this could hold my interest for longer than the 15-20 minutes I was there. Im not really an art gallery type of person by myself. If you are that type of person (or are with someone who is) this is a good stop.

Wonderful place to take in local art, learn of the cultural history of the Southern Appalachians, and to interact with friendly, knowledgable folks!

We just attended the Clay Day last weekend. We made 5 Raku glazed and horse hair pots, made a bowl on the pottery wheel and played with making free sculpture clay art. A wonderful time for the whole family!

Its ok. Its like a Cracker Barrel on the inside. The trails around it are ok.There are lots of artisans with hand made crafts to sell.

Spend a little time here on your way through. Good chance that you will learn a bit of local culture

A good place to find local arts and crafts and see some of the artisans at work. A nice selection of products for purchase.

Cool place

Beautiful regional artwork. Be sure to visit the 2nd level.