West Virginia’s Premier Handmade Marketplace

We Bring All of West Virginia’s Best Artisans and Crafters to You.

 

Here in West Virginia there is a special spirit and pride crafted into all of the goods in our handmade marketplace.

 

OUR-WV.COM  creates a place for artists, artisans and craftsmen representing the heart of Appalachia and West Virginia handmade products to market their work together.  We simplify the process of Appalachian small manufacturers connecting with new friends and customers, and empower people to change the way the global economy works.

 

Our people to people approach brings heart and fun to the buying and selling of finished Appalachian natural products, sustaining West Virginia’s cottage industry by putting it within reach of the entire world. 

 

You, along with the hundreds of others who are shopping on OUR-WV.COM, are helping to preserve and  continue West Virginia Arts, Crafts, Heritage and more.  And you will be giving those you love, or yourself, a very unique handcrafted heirloom gift that will be truly cherished more and more each and everyday!
 

So don't hesitate to email us, call to talk to us, or meet with us if you live locally or you are planning a trip to our area.  OUR-WV.COM helps link us to you, to make it easier to build better friendships, kinships and community.  We connect those who create with those who search for exceptional, one-of-a-kind handcrafted originals.

 

For exceptional heirloom quality pieces that will bring the spirit of Appalachia conveniently into your home, turn to West Virginia's premier cottage business marketplace.  No matter where in the world you may live, a part of the simple, peaceful and beautiful West Virginia mountain life can come to live with you.

 

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The Beginnings of Appalachian Arts and Crafts

 

During the period of early settlement in West Virginia, the arts were a matter of survival; most native handcrafts related to necessary homemaking and farming activities.  This life was filled with the creativity that produced what we now consider the luxury arts and crafts.  Some of the crafts we today call Heritage Crafts differ from the true Mountain Arts.

 

Mountain Arts are one of the most important art forms of the mountains of West Virginia.  Examples of the Mountain Arts include log cabins and cabin furnishings, spinning and weaving, covertlets and counterpanes, quilting and patchwork, native dyes and herbs, furniture and other woodwork, mountain baskets and chair bottoms, whittling and wood carving, dolls and toys, mountain music and handmade instruments, pottery and clay items, rug and candle making, needlework and tatting, and metal and leather work.  One very rare and nearly lost mountain art form is the making of wooden barrels, buckets, tubs and measures.

 

In the past, each person became an inventor and skilled worker as a matter of survival.  Although there is a distinction between yesterday's Mountain Arts and today's West Virginia Heritage products, both represent a desire to create.  West Virginia's best crafts reflect the pride of the people who create them.

 

Ingenious primitive crafts have become works of art in today's craft revival and the general public wants crafts produced for generations by West Virginians.  The challenge of today, is to increase the income potential for people producing these crafts while maintaining the heritage of the Mountain Arts.  OUR-WV.COM helps the modern creators of West Virginia Mountain Arts and new handcrafts, sustaining them as important economic and cultural resources for our West Virginia communities.

 

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Anyone Can Enjoy Art

The definition of art in Webster’s Dictionary is: The activity of creating something beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, thus what one person sees as beautiful may not be beautiful to another. I say art is not successful unless that beauty is shared and  appreciated by others.  

Some people have the misconception that there has to be a hidden meaning somewhere in a piece of art, be it a sculpture, painting or whatever. That could be the intention or the artist, but that doesn’t have to be understood by you, the buyer, in order for to you to enjoy the piece. Later on as you perhaps become a more sophisticated buyer or collector this may become important to you.

If, upon viewing, the piece makes you smile or have some other pleasant reaction, the art piece has done its first job and is successful. If you want to have prolonged enjoyment from the piece buy it and take it home and place it in a location that you see often. That chuckle or deep felt memory can be yours forever to enjoy. It doesn’t have to impress others but if it does you get double satisfaction knowing that some one else enjoyed the piece with you. You might want to give it a name of your own. It might remind you of its pleasant shape or the artist you bought it from or when and where you happened across it.

You can become a collector if you want, artists need support. Stay within the cost range you can afford. Helping support a struggling artist can be very comforting to you and the artist and you might be rewarded again on down the road when the artist may become well known for his work. Picasso was once a struggling artist. Enjoying what you purchase is the ultimate joy of owning a piece of art.   

You don’t have to be rich to buy beautiful enjoyable art and you do not need to have a formal art education to enjoy art. Many pieces of art or collections can be very enjoyable and cost very little. There are many people who have a mug collection at very little cost and the collector gets a lot of enjoyment in remembering where and how he obtained it. Many collectors collect paintings or sculpture of unknown artists that they like and again at very little cost. I have a mug that is the last of a beautiful set that I bought years ago from a potter that I knew very well and now has passed on and when that piece is gone it will be very much missed. It has given me so very much enjoyment down through the years, knowing its artist, seeing its shape, the beautiful glaze and using it.

If on some of your sojourns to an art gallery, artisans show, or your favorite art shop something catches your eye or peaks your interest and it is within your ability to obtain it, get it. You won’t be sorry – it will be a good investment in your well being.

Don’t have anything in your home that is not beautiful – William Morris

                                                                  Enjoy your purchase,
                                                                         Patrick Fetty