 lot of people collect things. Trading cards, coins, and postage stamp collections are quite common, others collect music or movies. Folks who travel a lot may collect Christmas tree ornaments, thimbles, salt shakers or golf balls from the places they visit. But not Joyce Jones. Joyce has box after box stuffed full of sticks, twigs, pine knots & cones, dried flowers and weeds. Why? She uses these bits of nature to create her unique form of "Nature Art".
At 66 years young, Joyce still loves being out in nature and takes a daily walk through their 28 acres in Cosby carrying a bag to collect her natural treasures . In fact, this is what brought her here from Northern Wisconsin 5 years ago. She would come down to visit a sister who lived here and marveled at how much more pleasant the weather was... all year long.
"The summers in Wisconsin are short." Explains Joyce, "And the winters are very long and very cold, with practically no spring or fall. So the time when we could really enjoy being outdoors was brief."
So Joyce and her husband of 44 years, Robert, left behind their 3 grown children, 5 grand children and 3 great grand children and moved to the mountains.
"The mountain scenery drew me. I love the outdoors, and can be outdoors so much more here." Robert's retirement from Harley Davis provides their primary income and Joyce supplements that with income from selling her Nature Art.
"I never figured on getting rich from doing my crafts, but I love doing it, it's relaxing, and it gives us some extra money which is always nice. We've always lived modestly, within our means, so being retired is not a problem for us. I like being able to sleep in if I want, no time clocks to punch. And the people here are great. My only objection to this area is the way people toss trash out along the roadways. I hate to see them spoiling the natural beauty. Maybe they've grown so accustomed to the beauty all around them that they no longer appreciate it."
"I've been making these for about 20 years now." Says Joyce, "I got started because Birch Miners Disease was killing so many birch trees in Wisconsin and I thought there had to be something someone could do with all that beautiful bark. I still get my bark from Wisconsin, when we go back to visit the family, but the rest comes from my wandering through the forests here. The figurines come from local variety stores; I buy them when ever I come across
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Artist Joyce Jones uses natural items from the forest to create her artwork.
something I think I can use.
"Robert cuts the plywood for the backing boards, then I mount a piece of bark on it and just begin building. I start with a general concept of what I'm going to make then the piece just evolves as I add a piece of this and a little of that. No two come out alike. And I stick to natural themes: birds, deer, bears, raccoons.
Joyce sells her work through a small number of outlets. The Treasures Of Appalachia gallery in Cosby is her only "storefront", the rest are local craft shows. "I don't want to drive for more than an hour to get to the shows. I do the monthly shows at Treasures Of Appalachia, and the big On Cosby show and then Del Rio Days. The one shop and a few shows keep me busy enough. You have to keep active or you'll just grow old, but if I push it, it takes the fun out of it.
"What I like best about the craft shows is meeting other people. Even if I don't sell a lot of pieces, if I've had a good time, it was worth doing.. And I love 'Treasures' I'm very impressed with what they've done."
Treasures of Appalachia is a quality Art & Craft Gallery that offers the works of 44 Cocke County artisans. Everything
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in the store is locally made, and hand crafted. They also host monthly Art & Craft Gatherings that are open to all artists, crafters, performers and food vendors.
You may reach the gallery at (423) 487-3111 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day except Wednesday and Sunday. Or
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you may contact Len and Varena Landrum at (423) 487-5448 or Doug & Marie Bittinger at (423) 623-9692 or log onto www.TreasuresOfAppalachia.com. Joyce Jones may be reached at (865) 908-2431.
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