permanent collection
Backcountry Makers: An Artisan History of SWVA and NETN
Abingdon’s own scholar, Betsy K. White, brings to life the material-culture heritage of southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee in her recent publication Backcountry Makers: An Artisan History of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. This exhibition will include biographical sketches sampled from the seventy-five makers included in the book —potters, weavers, spinners, quilters, embroiderers, cabinetmakers, metalsmiths, clocksmiths, gunsmiths, and ...
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A Day on the Abingdon Branch: The Photography of O. Winston Link, 1955-1957
This rare photography collection captures the last steam train on the Virginia Creeper rail line. Of the Abingdon Branch, O. Winston Link said, “at times the locomotives are almost incidental to the picture. They add to the rural scenery: streams, little bridges and country roads, trees, mountains, cows. They would come by then be gone, leaving behind just a ...
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Betsy K. White Cultural Heritage Gallery
The decorative arts legacy of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee developed against the backdrop of European settlement of Virginia’s frontier – really America’s frontier. Prior to the middle of the 18th century, the Blue Ridge Mountains formed a steep barrier to settlement of Virginia’s great valley that lay just beyond it. It wasn’t until the end ...
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Furniture
The earliest furniture was made during the closing years of the 18th century and in the style of English cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale. Despite the fact that early furniture was often made at home with little thought given to prevailing style, there was a market for fashionable furniture and trained cabinetmakers were here to supply it. Chippendale’s pattern book ...
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Pottery
Pottery-making was an important local industry as early as the last years of the 18th century and lasting throughout the 19th century. All sorts of ceramic containers were made: jars, crocks, churns, milk pans, pitchers, honey pots, jugs, water coolers and even ink wells. Rich clay found along the rivers provided the natural resources, but transportation was also a ...
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Textile
The decorative arts legacy of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee developed against the backdrop of European settlement of Virginia’s frontier – really America’s frontier. Prior to the middle of the 18th century, the Blue Ridge Mountains formed a steep barrier to settlement of Virginia’s great valley that lay just beyond it. It wasn’t until the end ...
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Upcoming Exhibits
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Permanent Collection
View works from our Permanent Collection of art, part of the WKMA experience year round, featuring our most enduring pieces.
Sculpture Garden
The Sculpture Garden is a beautiful part of our museum grounds experience, and part of our permanent collection of art.
Past Exhibits
View previously exhibited work at the William King Museum of Art, a retrospective of past shows and galleries.
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