The Mountaineer
By Andrew Marshall
December 14, 2024
Readers looking for a last-minute stocking stuffer could do worse than visiting the Haywood Arts Council’s Main Street storefront. There, procrastinating holiday shoppers will find the perfect gift — mugs emblazoned with a watercolor illustration of the mountains that surround Waynesville.
The mugs are a collaboration between the Haywood County Arts Council and local artist Ken Czarnomski. The arts council approached Artist Ken Czarnomski with a concept for a new product in the council’s Haywood Handmade line.
“Our idea was to try to put an artist’s work on an everyday object and try to keep the price point low, so everybody can own a piece of it,”said Tonya Harwood, HAC executive director. The mugs sell for $12. As part of the Haywood Handmade line, all proceeds support the HCAC.
“Funds help us with some of our state grants that have to have a match,” Harwood said. “So when we sell these types of things, it’s helping us not only provide for our operating costs, but we have a match for these kinds of grants so we can continue to get them in the future.”
Czarnomski leapt at the chance to donate his time and skill to the cause.
Such generosity is entirely in character for Czarnomski. As a young man, Czarnomski was heavily involved in philanthropic initiatives in his hometown of Detroit, even co-founding a community-focused architectural collective with his fellow students.
As his career as an architectural engineer progressed, Czarnomski never lost sight of how small actions can engender big outcomes.
“[American architect and philosopher] Buckminster Fuller had an anecdote from his time in the Navy,” said Czarnomski, when The Mountaineer visited his well-lit studio at the Folkmoot Friendship Center.
Fuller had a habit of pointing out that extremely large ships are turned by relatively small rudders. But the rudders themselves are turned by even smaller propellers, Czarnomski continued.
“We’re that little propeller. That little propeller can make that big aircraft carrier swing around and shift it. Well, we can definitely do that shifting,” he said.
These days, Czarnomski does his shifting by donating and discounting his exquisite watercolors to a variety of non-profit organizations in Haywood County and beyond.