The Folk Art Center’s Main Gallery begins the new year with “Dynamic Narratives,” an exhibition highlighting the work of Women Ceramic Sculptors.

The twelve featured artists address important issues of society, using clay to express their point of view, individually and collectively. The exhibition will run through April 19, 2015.

Cindy Billingsley of Cookeville, TN is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and was instrumental in forming Women Ceramic Sculptors and curating “Dynamic Narratives.” She says, “Clay is the only medium that uses every element: fire, water, air and earth. It is meant to be touched by the heart, the eyes, and the hands.”

Citing William Faulkner as inspiration, the group believes that “the aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again, since it is life.”

Other Southern Highland Craft Guild members represented in the show are Nancy Kubale of Rutherfordton, NC and Marilee Hall of Cookeville, TN. They are joined by nine additional American artists. Some of the themes represented in “Dynamic Narratives” are Alzheimer’s disease, endangered animals, relationships, confines of life, victimization, and hope.

Prior to its installation at the Folk Art Center, “Dynamic Narratives” was on display at the National Association of Women Artists Gallery in New York City, and at the Tennessee Art League in Nashville.

The Folk Art Center is is the headquarters for the Southern Highland Craft Guild, an educational non-profit organization founded in 1930. The Guild’s mission is “to bring together the crafts and craftspeople of the Southern Highlands for the benefit of shared resources, education, marketing and conservation.”

The Folk Art Center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and located at Milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in east Asheville. For more information call (828) 298-7928, or visit www.craftguild.org.