On these nights, the Community Room stage is lined with tree and owl blocks for beginners, and dog, goat, and squirrel blanks for those carvers ready for a challenge. Picking one can be intimidating, but Richard is good about reminding folks not to be too precious with them. It’s just a block of wood, after all. 

Richard and Carolyn are part of the famed Brasstown Carvers, a cohort of skilled woodcarvers with a rich history. Established in the 1930s by Olive Dame Campbell, the Brasstown Carvers have been instrumental in preserving and promoting the art of woodcarving across the region and beyond.  

Every Thursday night, Richard Carter hosts a free carving night in the Keith House Community Room––open to students and the wider Brasstown community alike. The event officially starts after supper, but you can find Richard, along with fellow carver Carolyn Anderson and her husband David, in there an hour or so before. They’re setting up tables, chairs, and an array of carving materials and “blanks”–pieces of wood cut into common Brasstown patterns established generations ago by carvers like Hope & Glenn Brown, Murray Martin, and Richard’s mentor, Jack Hall–that welcome anyone to try this traditional craft. 

Blank Block next to a finished piece 

 Carving reached new heights after World War II, providing a robust income to folks in Brasstown. Hayden and Bonnie Logan Hensley bought a house with their whittling royalties; they lovingly called it “the house that carving built.” In recent decades, fellow Brasstown Carver Helen Gibson has taught innumerable classes on the craft at the Folk School and published a handful of instructional books. 

Carolyn Anderson & Some of her carvings

Over the years, Richard’s Carving Night has evolved from a small group of curious carvers into a formidable and dependable group devoted to keeping a longstanding tradition alive. While many enjoy coming week after week for carving and camaraderie, becoming an official Brasstown Carver is a demanding process. It wasn’t something our staff member Angela Wynn envisioned when she joined the community carving night for the first time. 

 “The first carving night, I absolutely was clueless, and I didn’t even know where to start,” Angela told West Virginia Public Radio show Inside Appalachia. “I could see what I wanted to do,” she added, “I just didn’t have the nerve to do it.”  

With some guidance from Richard, though, she picked it up quickly. After hundreds of hours of practice and some tests administered by Richard and the school, Angela is now one of the official Brasstown Carvers–along with Helen, Richard, Carolyn, Hoyt Brown, Terence Faries, Shelia Little, and Rae Bacchus. 

Listen to the Brasstown Carvers story here from Inside Appalachia and learn more

The Hensley’s

 Richard, a lifelong resident of Clay County, has a deep-rooted connection with the Folk School. He started working at the school’s dairy farm in the 1960s, and his passion for woodcarving has been a constant in his life. Carolyn, too, has a similar story. She grew up in nearby Warne and, as she told us in an earlier interview, “I was around a lot of the woodcarvers. I could hear them talking about taking their carvings in and everything.” Her husband, David Anderson, has always been an integral part of the Folk School community, helping construct or repair many treasured features, including the Keith House Community Room stage. 

Richard Carter

Helen Gibson

Last year, Angela and Richard received a 2023-2024 Folklife Apprenticeship grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. Angela has been learning all she can from Richard–from how to source and prep quality wood to learning how to carve classic Brasstown Carvers’ patterns. 

 While the award brings new notoriety, the duo is too humble to see it that way. They’re just happy to spend time together and hopefully pass this age-old practice to a new generation. 

 “We got a young one, a nine-year-old, coming tonight, so hopefully he’s excited to get into this,” Richard told Inside Appalachia. “I’ve got a six-year-old at home that wants to do it, but I’m trying to hold out on that for a while. I may give him a bar of soap and something to let him work on.”