06/04/2026
Emerging Artist Highlight! Meet Amy Burka, & Emiko Kuhs
Amy Burka .amy.hey spent years in other professional careers before replacing the laptop on her desk with a sewing machine in 2023. Working exclusively in canvas and waxed canvas from her home studio, she designs and produces bags and accessories built for longevity. Her practice is grounded in a conviction that handwork carries ethical weight: “Almost everything is made by someone’s hands — and knowing what skills, effort, and resources are required demands respect for craft and craftspeople of all kind.”
Emiko Kuhs .444 is a trans quilter and Georgia State University BFA graduate whose work examines two interlocking forms of power: the fragility of Appalachia’s electrical grid under pressure from data center expansion, and the experience of being transgender. Working in a medium with deep roots in community and protest, Kuhs uses historic quilting techniques, symbols, fabric choices, and pattern as a language for contemporary social and environmental concerns. “Quilts are a landscape, capable of being altered over time like the environment or a body.”
You can meet Amy, Emiko and the other emerging artists in person at the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands July 16-19 in Downtown Asheville, NC!
About the EAP:
Now in its third edition, the EAP has become a permanent fixture of the Guild's programming, a signal that an organization founded in 1930 is actively cultivating the next generation of fine craft artists.
Selected artists receive, among other benefits, a discounted booth fee for exhibiting at the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands and professional development programming through partnership with Mountain BizWorks’ Craft Your Commerce program.
Participation in the EAP is not the same as Guild membership, which involves a separate and more rigorous jury process. Artists leave the EAP with a working knowledge of Guild culture, professional relationships with established members, and a personal sense of what the SHCG offers it's members.
Learn more about the Emerging Artist Program on our website craftguild.org