All ages of children at the ArtSpace Charter School in Swannanoa learned about art during a recent two-week artist residency.  Students worked with a western North Carolina artist to create a mobile sculpture that will permanently hang in their school.  Cullowhee metalsmith William S. Rogers and his 27-year-old assistant and son, Lucas, conducted a two-week residency at ArtSpace Charter School in Swannanoa, teaching students about metallurgy, physics and art.

Named a “master craftsman” by Virginia in 2004 and by his native state of Tennessee in 1985, Rogers has been a professional artist and educator for 30 years. Locally he is known for his work on the HandMade House in Asheville and for building the studios at the Green Energy Park in Jackson County.

The artist residency was sponsored by the North Carolina Arts Council and HandMade in America’s Craft Across the Curriculum program.