• B.A. Berea College, 1996

After earning a degree in Appalachian Studies, Price applied for a Watson fellowship to expand his growing interest and skills in traditional boatbuilding, studying the art and craft of gondola building in Venice, Italy.  During his stay in Venice, he was the only American gondola builder and became the first American to own his own gondola yard—one of only six in the city.

A few years ago, Price decided to sell his boatyard and move back to Berea, a place he says he loves.  He is currently involved in two projects: one is designing and building an eco-house in Berea and the other involves starting a folk arts school, also in Berea.

Why Appalachian Studies?
“I had started off as a music major, and after two years, I decided that I didn’t want to become a high school chorus teacher.  I took a few years off from college and went to Maine to learn to build traditional wooden boats.  I then decided that I wanted to complete my Bachelor’s.  I thought that English might be a helpful thing to major in as it can be extremely handy in life to be able to write well, but I wasn’t able to fit such a drastic change in major into the 8-term limit to which I had to adhere.  The most sensible option was for me to invent an independent major in something which I could integrate into my previous course work and would have a strong writing component.  I had taken a course in Appalachian Music and loved the material, so I wrote up a proposal to get my degree in Appalachian Studies.  I never regretted it.”

“Most people think that there is an abyss between Appalachian Studies and building gondolas in Venice, but actually I see them as practically one in the same.  They are both perspectives of unique sub-cultures that have interesting histories and social structures.  By using the understanding about how to study the culture in Appalachia, I was able to come to a much better understanding of the culture of the people who surround the gondola, and therefore the gondola itself.  My work with the gondola involved much more than just the technical aspect of how it was built.”

“I love traditional culture and the products of traditional culture, be they ladder back chairs, earthenware, lace, or gondolas.  The elements of culture that exist in Appalachia are elements that exist in many other cultures as well: material culture, music, language and oral tradition, culinary arts, dance, etc., and it is fascinating to make a confrontation between Venice and my own Appalachian background. I had never even been on a boat in my life before I started building them in Maine, but that taught me the love for working with wood in traditional methods as opposed to the more industrial techniques that are used in mass production.”