The Kitagawa School: A New Vision of Craft, Ecology, and Community in Western North Carolina

There’s no shortage of craft schools in Western North Carolina. Penland School of Crafts is undoubtedly the most famous, but the region boasts plenty of small, grassroots organizations that cater to craft makers living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Soon, a new craft school in nearby Madison County will open its doors to woodworking students eager to deepen their understanding of craft, community, and ecology. Founded by Asheville sculptures Melissa Engler and Graeme Priddle, The Kitagawa School aims to provide an immersive experience that nurtures the relationship between craft, creativity, and the land.

“Since we met, we have had thoughts about opening our own school,” say Melissa and Graeme, both longtime educators who have shared a studio in Asheville’s historic Grovewood Village since 2015. “The rigors of six months a year on the road teaching can wear you out, and takes us away from our desire to own land and care for it.” Several years ago, after receiving a generous endowment from woodturner Andy Johnson-Laird and his wife, Kay Kitagawa, Graeme and Melissa began thinking seriously about their mission to establish a small craft school whose programming would integrate creativity, craft-making, and sustainable environmental practices.

In 2022, putting their backgrounds in teaching, plumbing, electrical engineering, and permaculture to use, Graeme and Melissa picked out an 11-acre patch of land nestled between Asheville and Penland and began laying the foundation for The Kitagawa School.

A Lesson in Collaboration

Nearly a decade before Graeme stuck his shovel into North Carolina soil, the woodturner left his native New Zealand for the mountains of Asheville, where he found studio space, a supportive craft community, and Melissa. “The culture and landscape [of Asheville] reminds me a lot of where I lived in New Zealand,” says Graeme, who first visited the States in 1996 while attending a woodturning conference. “Fast forward 19 years, and I met a girl who just happened to be living here […] I feel so lucky.”

Over their years at Grovewood Village, the couple, who share a love of woodworking and nature, would collaborate on projects large and small; The Kitagawa School is their latest and most substantial venture together. “Collaboration is hard,” says Melissa, whose background in fine art and furniture overlaps with Graeme’s training as a woodturner. “Ideally, collaboration is something different than either of us would do alone, but it is still cohesive and effective. We have had a few collaborations where we were completely on the same page, but when we are not, we’ve learned to take turns on who has the final say.”

Melissa’s sculptural pieces, painted in bright blue-greens and often assembled from multiple parts, reflect the biodiversity of Western North Carolina’s flora and fauna. Graeme’s work is indebted to the Maori cultural practices of using Earth-based materials and prioritizing connection to land, family, and community. “We are always learning from each other,” says Melissa, adding, “The main thing that unites our work is our wish to honor and share our love for the natural world.”

Building The Kitagawa School

The Kitagawa School will bring that wish into reality. While developments are still underway, Melissa and Graeme plan to open the school’s main workshop for classes in early 2025. The revenue from these classes will fund the addition of six “workshop pods,” private studios where students can work without distraction. Students will also have access to the Johnson-Laird Workshop, a large communal space named after Kitagawa School benefactor Andy Johnson-Laird, who donated much of the school’s heavy-duty woodworking equipment.

While the curriculum initially concentrates on wood, Graeme and Melissa stress that Kitagawa is “more than a wood school.” Classes will remain small, with a maximum of six students per session, a strategy that encourages in-depth, hands-on learning in an intimate setting. Eventually, programming will expand to include other craft-based media, literature, music, and the culinary arts. As the school’s resident gardener and permaculture expert, Graeme will oversee sustainable land management and the school’s farm-to-table feeding model, which provides nutritious meals sourced from the surrounding farms and gardens. In the future, Kitagawa will offer a residency program for artists whose work explores environmental or ecological themes; these residents will trade their labor for living and workshop space.

As we write, Melissa and Graeme are nearing the end of their project’s third phase. Between workshops and regular teaching sessions, the pair have almost single-handedly planned, prepped, and installed the initial groundwork for Kitagawa over three years. But the lightning-fast coordination of their project, as Graeme tells us, wouldn’t have been possible without help from the craft community in Asheville and nationwide.

How To Get Involved

“As we are building our school, we have gotten wonderful support from people offering help with construction, plans, and fundraising,” says Graeme, who calls Asheville’s craft community “very welcoming.” Donations will go toward the project’s third phase, after which Kitagawa opens for classes in the main workshop. The revenue from these classes will fund the final phase of The Kitagawa School project.

While support for Kitagawa has been “incredible” since its inception nearly three years ago, Graeme and Melissa are still seeking donations to aid in the project’s final phases. Those interested in contributing should visit the school’s PayPal, or email Kitagawa School Director Melissa Engler here or Program Director Graeme Priddle here using “Kitagawa” as the subject line. The couple stresses that any monetary contribution brings them closer to their goal, but those with advanced building skills are welcome to donate their time and talents instead. For more information on The Kitagawa School and to keep up with the latest news, please email Melissa or Graeme to subscribe to their newsletter or follow Kitagawa on Instagram.

Kitagawa School: Instagram | PayPal

Graeme Priddle: Website | Instagram

Melissa Engler: Website

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. All photos published with permission of Melissa Engler and Graeme Priddle.