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CREATE WEST VIRGINIA
Artists working on a colony near Spencer
You may know blacksmith Jeff Fetty for his giant iron daffodils that bloom year-round in Charleston. Or maybe you've sat at a glass corporate boardroom table supported by an intricate Fetty hand-wrought base. His work goes around the world, keeping very good company.
Fetty doesn't spend all his time at the forge. To relax, he rides his mountain bike around Roane County. On a ride up on what the locals call Rumpus Ridge, he noticed the sweeping view of Spring Creek valley below where his hometown of Spencer lies, looking like an old-time postcard. He noticed that the land high on Rumpus Ridge was flat. He started thinking.
Wouldn't it be great to have a bigger, better shop and forge? Wouldn't it be great to have artist neighbors? He hatched the idea of what has become the Artists' Colony at Chestnut Ridge.
"We broke ground about two years ago," Fetty says. "The first year we spent just cleaning up. For years, folks had used it as an unofficial dump. We hauled away about 30 truck-loads of trash. The City of Spencer got excited about the project and hooked up city water and power."
Fetty knew his friends Phil and Teresa Holcomb were thinking about moving closer to their major woodworking and jewelry markets in the urban east. He told them about his vision, and they now operate their world-wide art and craft business from a spacious new studio, a short walk from Fetty's forge.
"There are 200 acres here," Fetty says, waving his hand across the wooded expanse beyond the two studios. "For artists who are interested in building a life here, who will contribute to the community as they pursue their work, there is a terrific opportunity." www.jefffettyironwork.com/whatsnew.
