May 24, 2010

A crafter’s paradiseBy Robert Kelly-GossDailyAdvance.com

North Carolina — Lisa Winslow and Mary Temple couldn’t really just retire. When they saw an opportunity to run a shop and promote area crafters, they jumped in with both feet.

The duo that operated Arts of the Albemarle for years and saw the completion of The Center through to the end left the arts organization last year to work on their own craftwork, and spend time with family. But when faced with an opportunity to own and operate their own shop and dedicate that shop largely to the quality, handmade crafts created in the Albemarle region, well the decision was a no-brainer.

Winslow and Temple have resurfaced recently as the owner/operators of the Museum Shop at Museum of the Albemarle.

The shop was owned and operated by the Museum of History Association based in Raleigh. Due to cutbacks, however, they walked away from the operation located in the main lobby of MOA and so the museum board formed a committee and began looking for ideas to keep the shop’s doors open.

Winslow had run the old museum shop 20 years ago, when MOA was located on Hwy. 17. The committee called her for ideas, and she in turn called Mary Temple.

The wheels began turning in the minds of Winslow and Temple. They realized they could be the owner/operators of this small shop, and put their own particular touch on it.

Read complete article.