Meet Gray Taylor, an Annual Firefly Gathering instructor based in the Central Piedmont region of North Carolina, the ancestral lands of the Occannechi band of the Saponi. Gray will be joining us for his 3rd year this summer at the Gathering to share classes in metal work. As an artist and feral father, Gray’s classes are reliably “riveting”!
Learn more about Gray and his path to teaching Earthskills in the interview below, and join him at the Annual Firefly Gathering this year, June 20-25, 2023.
Q. What draws you to teach classes in Metal work?
I’ve enjoyed finding my own niche among all the ancestral skills there are available to learn from across this planet, but I’ve become addicted to metal working for some time now. Making rivets for use as a mechanical connection seemed like a skill set that was not being taught at the gatherings, so around 6 years ago I taught my first riveting full tang knife handles class at Piedmont Earthskills. I now offer a riveted leather knife sheath class as well.
I gather so much enjoyment from the participants showing up with an enthusiasm to sponge up all the decades of knowledge that the instructors bring to the gatherings. The looks on their faces when they’ve completed a project using their own hands is priceless.
Spaceships are not welded, but riveted. Think of how strong a mechanical connection that must be; it’s riveting…
Riveted leather knife sheaths by Gray
Q. Why is it important for people to engage with Earthskills?
I see Earthskills as a way for people in the dominant mainstream culture to regain the grounding effects of being in nature, to hear again the sounds of birds, frogs and laughter. To use their hands to craft things from the natural world as all of our ancestors once survived upon, to sit under the canopy of the forest and process the traumas of life. To smell the wood smoke, as you sit upon the ground staring into the fire that is being tended by many hands. That is the village that we all seek to build and Earthskills is one way to feed that calling.
Q. What does The Firefly Gathering in particular mean to you?
Firefly has continued to push earth skills into the mainstream while also holding a solid core of values, which includes being a female-led organization, holding land acknowledgements, funding for participants of the global majority, creating safe spaces and the magnificent treatment of their instructors. That’s what has kept me involved with this organization. Love y’all!
We are delighted to have Gray back at the Gathering this year, and for the skills and humor he brings to our community. Information about Gray’s 2023 Annual Gathering classes will be available in the coming months. In the meantime, you can read about his 2022 metal work classes here, or catch him at Rivercane Rendezvous this April. Be sure to follow Gray’s work on Instagram, and of course, join him at the Annual Firefly Gathering for his in-depth classes this June!
