Celebrating Barbara Grenell’s Mountain Tapestries, Legacy Of Fiber Arts

Installation View, Barbara Grenell: Mountain Tapestries (May 9, 2026 - October 11, 2026), BRAHM, Blowing Rock NC. Photo: Josh White

Story Created by: Wendy Welch

This story originally aired in the Sept. 27, 2026, episode of Inside Appalachia.

Vicki Skywark learned to knit because of sweaterlust. 

“I fell in love in fourth grade with my friend’s hand-knitted sweaters,” she said.

Her friend’s mother, who was English, knitted them in a color to match every outfit the friend owned.

“I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen,” Skywark said.

Skywark’s mother signed her up for knitting classes that summer. Sixty years later, she had become an excellent knitter and a weaver who taught classes at the Blowing Rock Arts and History Museum. 

Blowing Rock Arts and History Museum, or BRAHM to its staff and regular patrons, showcased four tapestries that comprised their Barbara Grenell exhibit. Grenell was a weaver and National Endowment for the Arts award winner who moved to Burnsville in the 1960s and became a vibrant part of the region’s weaving landscape until her death in 2001.