By 9 a.m. each morning, cars have filled Coliseum Parking Deck. Spots can only be found on an upper level, and student drivers file out through the various exits. Reynolds Coliseum and Talley Student Union stand tall on one side, but the building on the other side holds a little more mystery. This building, Thompson Hall, houses NC State’s Crafts Center.
“So many people don’t know what goes on in here,” said Carol Fountain Nix, the director of the Crafts Center. “Students don’t know that they can just come in here for one of the best environments on campus.”
According to Nix, the Crafts Center offers a massive array of programs to not only students, but the surrounding community as well. There are customizable events tailored to organizations, art therapy sessions hosted by nonprofits and over 90 classes taught by professionals. Students are always given first priority in the signup process.
Nix became the director of the Crafts Center in March and has been working to increase student participation in the center ever since.
“I’m trying to bring more modern, relevant activities and final products to the center,” Nix said. “You have to look at trends. You have to look at what students are interested in. How do you take some of these traditional skills and bring them into a more modern context?”
Class fees are much lower for students than for other participants not affiliated with the university. There is a wide variety of skill sets to study. The clay studio and the woodshop maintain the highest draw, according to Nix, but there are also classes on fibers, glass, jewelry, lapidary, photography, paper and many other topics. Calligraphy will be one of the new classes offered in the spring.
Jennifer Siegel has been the clay studio manager at the Crafts Center for the past five years. Siegel said the center is just a happy place.
“The Crafts Center is inspiring,” Siegel said. “This place challenges its staff, instructors and members to break down creative walls and think outside of the box by creating an urge to learn and share.”
Nix said she believes that the instructors in the Crafts Center are brilliant, and that the professional staff and student crafters tend to become close to one another because many students participate until they graduate.
“It’s really hard to have a bad day at the Crafts Center,” Nix said. “Most of the time, you’re around happy, content people who are happily working away at their craft and learning, so it makes for a very happy environment.”
The projects that take up most of Nix’s time these days consist of trying to spread the goodwill and draw more students into the center. The clay studio is currently working on installing artwork outside the front of the building, and Nix herself hopes to increase signage around campus. Nix said collaborations with outside organizations are enjoyable for her.
“We love those customizable activities because it gives us a chance to respond to what people are looking for,” Nix said. “I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from some creative endeavor or some creative experience.”
The Crafts Center is also implementing new initiatives on campus, the most recent of which is a partnership with the Counseling Center on their own version of PostSecret. This is a project started in 2005 by Frank Warren that asks for anonymous postcards detailing the deepest secrets people have never spoken aloud. There is a box inside the Crafts Center where students can share their own secrets with the initiative, drawing to a close in May, which is National Mental Health month.
The center also works with CURE, a nonprofit organization on campus that aims to bring awareness to and provide assistance for African children suffering from physical disabilities. The instructors within the Crafts Center teach the nonprofit members to make products that they can then sell to raise money for the organization.
Nix said she wonders if the students that use the Coliseum Parking Deck and walk right by the Crafts Center everyday know what they are missing. Nix said that in a crazy, digital world, craftsmanship is something that is more and more valued.
“There’s a visceral feeling when you’ve invested in something and made it yourself,” Nix said. “In knowing that you have made it with your own skills. Sometimes what you make, what you walk away with is worth far more than the cost of the class.”
Stephanie Huang, a graduate student studying art and design, practices throwing a pot in her Intro to the Potter’s Wheel class at the Craft Center. The Craft Center has a wide variety of classes and workshops that students can attend to learn something new.
