Since its founding in 1969, Appalshop has grown into the foremost Appalachian arts center in the country. Through videos, recordings and educational programs, Appalshop helps introduce students to the hardships as well as the humour and creativity of Appalachian life.
When art teacher John Gorley was searching for a way to connect his student artists with their own heritage, he showed them three award-winning documentaries produced by Appalshop Films -- Long Journey Home, Coalmining Women and On Our Own Land. The videos inspired the students at Dilce Combs High School in Perry County, Ky., to create full-size sculptures of life in the coal mines. One sculpture showed eight miners escaping from a cave-in. Another showed a miner in a hospital bed, dying of black lung disease.
At Harmon Elementary School in southwest Virginia, Appalshop artists in residence helped students in the school's Appalachian storytelling club gather stories from the community, turn them into scripts and perform them.
Among the more than 70 Appalshop films and videotapes that are distributed to schools, theaters, community groups and museums around the world are profiles of mountain individuals, like Mabel Parker Hardison Smith, a black Appalachian who taught school in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky for over 35 years; and documentaries about mountain life, such as Strangers and Kin: A History of the Hillbilly Image; Fast Food Women, about women at work in a depressed economy; and Portraits and Dreams (with accompanying paperback book), which looks at mountain life through the eyes of schoolchildren.
Appalshop is also a source for recordings of authentic mountain music, from the traditional banjo and fiddle tunes of Pap Brewer to the feminist country ballads of Hazel Dickens.
To help teachers integrate Appalachian culture into the curriculum, Appalshop offers a variety of educational programs including artists in residence, workshops and teacher training. An annual conference, "Where Art Meets Ed," brings artists and educators from diverse backgrounds to Kentucky and immerses them in the different cultures of the region. For more information on Appalshop resources, contact:
Robert Gipe
Appalshop Educational Services
306 Madison St.
Whitesburg, KY 41858
(606) 633-0108