The Apprentice (1997)
I lived most of those years in a small two story farmhouse along the South Fork of the New River, just up-stream from the confluence of the north & south forks. Only recently have I realized the degree to which my apprenticeship years in these Appalachian communities stick to today to shape my work and how I see.
From the headwater country of the North Fork to the hidden lands surrounding the confluence of the two forks, I came of age. I felt the mountains' hum of a summer afternoon, heard the hush of the land on bitter winter evenings and saw the river rise up on clear morning air. When I went to work to learn my craft, I was taught to turn a leg or bed post on a lathe that had been packed into Jefferson 107 years before I got there - 85 years before I was born.