In the first room of Rob Levin’s studio, his designs — elongated and pointed, intricate and etched, brilliantly hued — catch the morning sun. In the second and third rooms, ceiling-high stacks of branches and bamboo dominate. In the fourth, shelves hold dozens of pieces awaiting completion. This last room, where Levin watches the seasons change outside, is where the true work gets done, on a decades-old bench surrounded by glass furnaces — plus corrugated tin panels to protect him from the heat his remarkable creations require.
Feature image: To create “ribbons” of glass on a finished piece (above left), Levin adds globules of hot glass while the piece is still in progress.
Split-rail fences don’t shout “keep out.” They lean, they shift, they invite. And in western North Carolina, they remind us that some lines are meant to hold, not harden.
Each May, spring climbs nearly 3,000 feet to the seat of Alleghany County. Here, as the rhododendrons blush, a beloved mountain town welcomes visitors with its food, art, and flourish of color and creativity.
Brief but delicious, soft-shell crab season is cherished by diners as well as the folks who work around the clock to put these native pinchers on our plates.
When it comes to poultry, the best is raised close to home.
