Join Matt Ledbetter, esteemed auctioneer and folk art connoisseur hailing from Gibsonville, North Carolina, as he unveils the rich tapestry of Southern Folk Art. With personal ties to numerous folk artists through his renowned quarterly auctions, Matt brings you on a journey through the intricate history, the profound motivations, and the intimate encounters that shape the world of folk art.
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Sep 28, 2026 · 47:23
Matt sits down with collector Mike Smith for a closer look at the work of S.L. Jones, using several carved heads and drawings from Matt’s collection alongside Mike’s firsthand…
Sep 14, 2026 · 1:33:32
Matt sits down with antique dealer and collector Laura Saville for a deep dive into old baskets, using examples from Matt’s collection and baskets Laura brought with her to…
Aug 31, 2026 · 1:28:58
Kyle and Matt dive into the life, work, and wild imagination of North Carolina folk potter Stacy Lambert, using old photographs, stories, interview footage, and pieces from…
Aug 17, 2026 · 1:09:43
Wade Ledbetter returns to the House of Folk Art to talk about the lost art of door-knock picking. Wade started picking around 1978 and spent more than 30 years driving back…
Aug 3, 2026 · 57:10
Mike Smith returns to the House of Folk Art with something remarkable: a collection of photographs he took while visiting folk artists across the South during the 1990s. Mike…
Jul 20, 2026 · 29:43
Matt and Sully are back with a mystery collection from Columbus, Ohio. This episode starts with a simple question: is Collage Folk Art? In front of them is a group of 147…
Jul 6, 2026 · 1:06:03
This episode starts with Mike returning to the table, where Matt has pulled together a group of rare folk art, pottery, baskets, quilts, and objects from the gallery before they…
Jun 22, 2026 · 1:02:24
Matt and Sully are back at Ledbetter Auction Gallery in Gibsonville with a fresh stack from a 400-piece single-owner folk art collection that just came through the door. The…
Jun 8, 2026 · 1:08:28
Matt and Kyle are back at the Auction Gallery in Gibsonville after a run of antique shows. Liberty and Fishersville were fun, but this episode gets back to the roots of House of…
May 25, 2026 · 24:10
Fishersville was a great show this year. Friday was packed from the start, dealers were moving material early, and by Saturday morning Matt was already back at the van digging…
May 11, 2026 · 42:03
Matt returns to the auction gallery after Liberty with the buys still sitting behind him and another show already on the calendar. This time, the conversation picks up in that…
Apr 27, 2026 · 48:42
Matt Ledbetter sits down before heading out to Liberty, North Carolina to set up Wade's tent for the last Liberty Antique show. Held twice a year in Randolph County, the Liberty…
Apr 13, 2026 · 38:28
Matt Ledbetter and Kyle sit down with a table full of pieces from the Catawba Valley Pottery Festival and break down what they picked up over the weekend. Held once a year in…
Mar 30, 2026 · 1:04:08
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter and Kyle walk through the newly expanded Ledbetter warehouse and put it to use right away. With over 15,000 square feet of…
Mar 16, 2026 · 1:34:09
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter sits down with longtime friend and antique dealer Laura Saville for a full conversation on antique American quilts, how to…
Mar 2, 2026 · 1:06:13
In January of 1994, Mary Proctor lost her grandmother, her uncle, and her aunt in a mobile home fire. The grandmother who raised her, the woman she called mama, was gone. The…
Feb 16, 2026 · 52:19
Before museums and collectors caught on, Tom Wells was documenting Southern folk artists on VHS in the early 1990s. In this episode, Matt Ledbetter sits down with the longtime…
Feb 2, 2026 · 48:19
Matt Ledbetter talks with Julian-Sherrod Summers, also known as Red Sanford, about how their shared background in football quietly ran alongside a growing interest in old…
Jan 19, 2026 · 50:18
In this episode, Wade Ledbetter sits down with Matt to talk through what real picking looked like before the internet changed the landscape. Long before Marketplace listings and…
Jan 5, 2026 · 1:17:13
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter sits down with longtime friend and full-time antique dealer Laura Saville for a wide-ranging, honest conversation about what…
Dec 22, 2025 · 1:04:20
Mike Smith joins Matt in the gallery with several pieces of folk art pottery headed for the next auction, opening boxes and walking through each form as it comes out. What starts…
Dec 8, 2025 · 45:25
Matt has been raised on canes since he was ten years old, and now he is passing the tradition down by raising his own kids on folk art canes too. From snake wrapped handles to…
Nov 24, 2025 · 1:01:04
Matt sits down with his dad, the infamous Wade Ledbetter, inside the auction gallery for a story Wade admits might be risky to even share. What starts as a quiet memory from…
Nov 10, 2025 · 51:39
Matt and Kyle sit down after two full days of picking at the Liberty Antiques Festival in Liberty, North Carolina. Surrounded by their finds, they go through the haul piece by…
Oct 27, 2025 · 1:04:23
Matt and Sully sit down inside the Griffith Fine Art Museum at Red Oak Brewery to explore where fine art and folk art meet. Surrounded by a collection of American Impressionist…
Oct 13, 2025 · 1:09:58
Matt and Mike Smith sit down inside the Griffith Fine Art Museum at Red Oak Brewery to talk about the wild early days of Southern folk art and the collectors who helped define…
Sep 29, 2025 · 1:09:59
Matt and Kyle take a deep dive into Kentucky folk artist Carl McKenzie (1905-1998), examining his colorful cut-wood sculptures that inspired a generation of collectors. From the…
Sep 15, 2025 · 47:48
Matt sits down with his father Wade Ledbetter, the legendary picker whose exploits have become House of Folk Art folklore. From walking to school with a .22 rifle to sleeping…
Sep 1, 2025 · 1:08:49
Matt and Sully kick off with some international flair as Sully shares his folk art discoveries from Poland and Denmark – including a mysterious pottery piece that might be 200…
Aug 18, 2025 · 1:47:17
Matt opens his doors to the official House of Folk Art gallery – a sanctioned room in his Gibsonville home where guests drink wine, discuss eyeball jugs, and sleep surrounded by…
Aug 4, 2025 · 1:17:31
Matt opens the show in Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s iconic black-and-red jersey while Sully sports Dale Jr. The playful NASCAR nod lasts only long enough for a quick laugh before they…
Jul 21, 2025 · 1:03:45
If you’ve ever wondered how an old jar of quarters, a dusty license plate, or a mystery canvas can bankroll a folk-art empire, this hour is your crash course. Matt Ledbetter and…
Jul 7, 2025 · 1:11:54
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt and Sully take on a challenge inside the gallery: pick 5 folk art pieces each and analyze them for viewers. But this isn’t just show…
Jun 23, 2025 · 1:00:48
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt and Kyle are back at the Folk Art Auction House in Gibsonville, sifting through the spring haul from shows across North Carolina and…
Jun 9, 2025 · 29:25
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt, Kyle, and Sully squeeze into the back of the van just as the Fishersville Antique Expo winds down, surrounded by every treasure they…
May 26, 2025 · 49:48
Chapters 00:00 – Intro 00:14 – Baskets 101: The Feel Test 01:01 – Machine Cuts vs. Drawing Knife Splits 03:18 – Why Smaller Baskets Matter 04:16 – The Basket That Makes You Say…
May 12, 2025 · 43:58
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Wade Ledbetter returns to share more stories from his life as a full-time antique picker. A life spent on back roads, knocking on doors, and…
Apr 28, 2025 · 55:27
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter takes listeners deep inside the Catawba Valley Pottery Festival. One of the South’s most important gatherings for traditional…
Apr 14, 2025 · 23:00
In this episode of House of Folk Art, host Matt Ledbetter welcomes back Cher Shaffer, a self-taught folk artist whose work captures heritage, instinct, and raw emotion. Raised in…
Mar 31, 2025 · 36:23
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter sits down with Cher Shaffer, a self-taught folk artist with a career spanning over 55 years. Raised in Georgia with Cherokee…
Mar 17, 2025 · 21:56
In this episode of House of Folk Art , host Matt Ledbetter sits down with his wife, Jennie Ledbetter, to talk about their first experience at the Catawba Valley Pottery Festival…
Mar 3, 2025 · 31:16
In this episode of House of Folk Art , host Matt Ledbetter sits down with his father, Wade Ledbetter, a seasoned picker who has spent decades knocking on doors, digging through…
Feb 17, 2025 · 26:00
In this episode of House of Folk Art , host Matt Ledbetter sits down with long-time collector and expert Brian Sieveking to discuss the ins and outs of collecting outsider and…
Feb 3, 2025 · 58:02
In this episode of House of Folk Art , Matt Ledbetter sits down with longtime folk art collector Brian Sieveking, a Professor in the Fine Arts Department at Virginia Western…
Jan 20, 2025 · 29:22
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter and Kyle Sheetz explore the colorful world of folk art and its connections to their personal and professional lives. From…
Jan 6, 2025 · 31:38
In this exciting episode of House of Folk Art , Matt Ledbetter sits down with auctioneer Ted Muscarelli of the Muscarelli Auction Company and a surprise visit from Matt’s dad,…
Dec 23, 2024 · 30:17
In this episode of House of Folk Art , Matt Ledbetter and Kyle Sheetz dive into Kyle's recent trip to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where he explored the museum's folk art…
Dec 9, 2024 · 25:31
In this episode of House of Folk Art , Matt Ledbetter and Sully dive deep into the art of starting a folk art collection. They discuss the importance of museums as a foundation…
Nov 25, 2024 · 17:41
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Sully steps out from behind the camera to join Matt Ledbetter in a candid discussion about folk art auctions and starting a collection. With…
Nov 11, 2024 · 30:44
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter reconnects with antiques expert David Kane from Greensboro, North Carolina, to delve into the captivating world of folk…
Oct 28, 2024 · 32:19
In this episode of House of Folk Art , Matt Ledbetter welcomes longtime friend and antiques expert David Kane from Greensboro, North Carolina. Together, they explore the world of…
Oct 14, 2024 · 6:45
In this special episode from House of Folk Art , host Matt Ledbetter shares a few of his favorite picking stories during the drive down to visit renowned folk artist Marvin…
Sep 30, 2024 · 11:18
In this episode of House of Folk Art , Matt Ledbetter dives into the life and influence of Howard Finster , one of the most well-known self-taught artists from the folk art…
Sep 16, 2024 · 22:00
In this episode of House of Folk Art , host Matt Ledbetter sits down with his long-time friend and auctioneer, Ethan Raynor, for a captivating conversation filled with laughter,…
Sep 2, 2024 · 16:10
In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt Ledbetter sits down with his longtime friend and fellow auctioneer, Ethan, to reminisce about their journey in the auction world. From…
Aug 19, 2024 · 46:43
In this episode of the House of Folk Art podcast, host Matt Ledbetter explores the unexpected ways personal connections influence artistic expression. Discover how two colorful…
Aug 5, 2024 · 23:56
Join Matt Ledbetter and Mike Smith for a captivating episode of the House of Folk Art podcast. In this episode, we explore the life and work of SL Jones, a remarkable folk artist…
Jul 22, 2024 · 24:21
Join Matt Ledbetter and Mike Smith for an in-depth conversation with Larry Ballard, an 86-year-old master carver from Chicago, whose incredible journey has taken his folk art all…
Jul 8, 2024 · 1:09:36
Welcome to House of Folk Art! In this episode, we sit down with Mike Smith of the At Home Gallery in Greensboro, North Carolina, to dive deep into the world of folk art. Mike…
Jun 24, 2024 · 11:33
In this episode, we dive deep into the world of self-taught art, highlighting the works of various influential folk artists through the eyes of Mike Smith, a seasoned folk art…
Jun 10, 2024 · 10:43
🎨 Mary T. Smith: Mike Smith's Favorite Folk Art Icon 🎨 Join us in this captivating episode of "Artistry Unveiled" as we delve into the vibrant world of Mary T. Smith, a true…
May 27, 2024 · 8:04
Legendary dealer Mike Smith takes us on a journey through the captivating legacy of James Harold Jennings. In this revealing conversation, Mike shares intimate stories and…
May 13, 2024 · 11:04
In this episode, Matt delves into the captivating story of AB The Flag Man, tracing his artistic origins, transition to Gibsonville, flag-making exploits, artistic partnership…
Apr 29, 2024 · 10:02
Welcome back to the House of Folk Art Podcast! In this episode, we shine a spotlight on the remarkable talents of Stacy Lambert, a master in the craft of folk art pottery. Join…
Apr 15, 2024 · 6:02
Join us for a quick overview of American pottery origins in this episode of the House of Folk Art Podcast. Discover how pottery transitioned from being an essential everyday tool…
Mar 29, 2024 · 9:19
Welcome to the inaugural episode of the House of Folk Art Podcast, where we delve into the captivating realm of folk art. Join us as we embark on a journey to unravel the…
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