Meet 2025 Heritage Award honoree Helen Gibson

Since 1989, the North Carolina Heritage Awards have honored artists statewide for their contributions to the cultural lives of their communities. The Folklife program of the North Carolina Arts Council is pleased to spotlight the five artists/groups who will be presented with the 2025 awards on June 7, at a public ceremony in Raleigh. In this episode, we head to the far western end of North Carolina to the community of Brasstown, to chat with Helen Gibson, who grew up among the storied Brasstown Carvers at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Helen began carving at age 11 under the teaching of her mother, Dot McClure, and Murrial “Murray” Martin, the Folk School’s craft teacher, to whom the early growth of the Brasstown Carvers one hundred years ago can be credited. Best known for her detailed nativity scene carvings, she has been the Folk School’s resident carver since 1990, a mentor to apprentice carvers, and a teacher at home and through the Tri-County Community College. The honorees for 2025 are: Round Peak Guitarist, Chester McMillian; Lumbee traditional artisans, Herman and Loretta Oxendine; North Indian classical musician, Gaurang Doshi; Brasstown Woodcarver, Helen Gibson; and Gospel Quartet, The Glorifying Vines Sisters. For tickets and more information, visit pinecone.org. Introduction music performed by Etta Baker. Arts Across NC is a podcast by and about the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, a state agency.

You can listen to Meet 2025 Heritage Award honoree Helen Gibson online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Meet 2025 Heritage Award honoree Helen Gibson is an episode from Arts Across NC by Arts Across NC.

This episode is 00:16:23 long.

This episode was published on May 29, 2025.

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