Woodcarving: turtle

This carved turtle, exact date unknown, was made by Sue McClure and carved from walnut, a particularly difficult wood to carve. Sue McClure was a Brasstown Carver who specialized in animal carvings, although some of her figures--this turtle and a family of possums--are not common motifs. McClure learned to carve at the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1945, at the tail end of the Craft Revival period. McClure's preference was apple wood, a wood that was abundant when the Tennessee Valley Authority cleared land, including local orchards, for rural electrification. The Brasstown Carvers can trace their beginnings to 1929 when a local craft guild was organized in cooperation with the John C. Campbell Folk School. By the mid 1930s, craft production at the school focused on carving and, by the 1950s, the group became known as the Brasstown Carvers. Today's Brasstown Carvers, some of them second and third generation makers from the same families as the original carvers, continue to produce work for the school's sales shop