-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press newspaper on December 2, 2021. The weekend after Thanksgiving was Josh Copus’ last 16 Hands Studio Tour as a member of the long-standing artisan group, 16 Hands. Copus, who grew up in Floyd and lives in Marshall, NC, was welcomed into the group in 2009, along with […]
The Old Marshall Jail’s Floyd Family Soft-Opening Take-Over weekend was a blast! Yes, it was all fun and games (aka Joe we can see your letters). It included a tour of the jail, repurposed into an art hotel by my son Josh and daughter-in-law Emily, complete with back stories. “It was the oldest operational jail […]
It’s hard to describe the aesthetics and the feeling of being inside my son and daughter-in-laws renovated and repurposed Old Marshall Jail in Marshall NC. Jody may call it being transformed to a foreign country and I may say it feels like we’re staying in a castle, but Amy coined the best description of the […]
The brick installations at the Old Marshall Jail feature bricks made by my Asheville Potter son Josh’s mobile brick factory, stamped with stories that he took from interviews and by everyday people in the Marshall community and beyond. Their readings by Josh were recorded during my recent visit. I think they read like spoken word […]
– A trip to Marshall isn’t complete without a visit to my son Josh’s property, a complex really with three kilns, pottery studios, a brick pizza party plaza, a labyrinth garden and more. Check out the family barn-raising of the building pictured above HERE. / Our World Tuesday
Marshall NC is a mountain town somewhat like Floyd but with two stoplights. Like it’s neighboring Madison County town, Hot Springs, it has a red railway car in it, trains going by and the ancient French Broad River, along with some cool shops (including my son’s wife’s Carolina Flowers Mercantile), an old-time dance hall, a […]
My son’s wife Emily is a flower farmer, florist and store owner. She, the founder of Carolina Flowers, had three weddings on Saturday to pick, arrange and deliver flowers for. October is their busiest month for weddings, but as busy as she was, we managed to squeeze in some weekend visit time, enjoying the flower […]
The three Floyd artists showing at Benji Obsborne’s 16 Hands Studio Tour site are visiting-artist Shanti Yard, a woodturner and 16 Hands members Benjie Osborne, a woodworker, and my son Josh Copus, a ceramics artist. Shanti was impressed that our grandson Liam knew the gemstones inlaid in his wood pieces. He learned them from playing […]
This was the first fall 16 Hands Studio Tour that the tour didn’t include my house. For the past 7 years, my son Josh Copus, a 16 Hands member, has been showing his pottery at our cabin, his childhood home off The Blue Ridge Parkway. This year, he’s showing at Benji Obsborne’s woodworking studio on […]
My son Josh and his beloved Emily got married! I was calling it a “wedding festival.” Others described it as epic. There was a flag procession, readings that made people cry, love professed, poetry, music, storytelling and more. A garland of marigolds from Emily’s flower farm was draped along the wedding platform that Josh built. The […]
You get some cute children You don’t get arrested You get family reunions You probably get some costumes And homeruns Some team spirit And class pictures You get communities mixed with communities And a communal spread of food and drink You get some freestyle moves And funky grooves You don’t get a hurricane You might […]
The plan was for Joe and I to spend the weekend visiting my Asheville Potter Son Josh and his fiancé Emily and to help them get “The Land” ready for their wedding in September. The Land is in Marshall, 20 minutes outside of Asheville, where Josh and Emily live. It’s a complex of kilns, gardens, […]
