Sarah Bailey

Film Description

Sarah Bailey, from Bledsoe in Harlan County, Kentucky, is one of Appalachia’s finest weavers and corn shuck artists. In this film portrait she is shown working on her corn shuck dolls and flowers and teaching corn shuck art and weaving in an Elderhostel program at the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Sarah talks about her beginnings as an artist “in the Hoover days when money was hard to get ahold of,” and the role of the Pine Mountain Settlement School in helping her establish a market for her work. She also discusses raising most of what she eats out of her garden, teaching herself to card and spin wool, and growing up in the days of a barter economy in the mountains. The film captures a way of life not so distant as many viewers might think and paints a portrait of art and life in Eastern Kentucky in the 20th century.

Screenings & Festivals

• Kentucky Educational Television
• Blue Ridge Public Television
• WSWP/Beckley, WV
• WSJK/Knoxville