HCC Trail
Art Trail
In 2025, the HCC Art Trail was established as a celebration of 60 Years of Impact. Many art installations were commissioned and are now on display as students and guest walk campus. Each piece is a unique art element to bring beauty and an engaging experience to all those that visit campus.
Stefan "Steebo" Bonitz
Crediting his mother for his artistic visions, Stefan began showing interest in creative
projects as early as kindergarten and first grade. The big leap into an art career
didn't happen until he was inspired by Howard Munson of The San Francisco Art Institute,
who recognized Stefan's talent. With the help of Munson's coaching and rekindling
of artistic attention, Stefan proceeded to co-create a retail outlet in Asheville,
showcasing over 200 artists including his own works.
Metal became the primary focus of Stefan's work as "Steebo Design" in July of 1995. The main emphasis was on functional art, lighting, furniture, and garden sculpture, with a style ranging from folk art to high design. Currently Stefan's drive and desire has funneled to a focal point of "art from the heart" and the creations are branded as "Steebo Sculptures".
Josh Cote
For over 20 years, Josh Coté has created whimsical and surreal wire sculptures. He’s
inspired by nature, fascinating dualities, literature, and the animal kingdom. He
enjoys working with wire as it bridges the gap between a line drawing and sculptural
form—like a 3D sketch. Josh lives with his family in Alexander, NC.
Grace Cathey
Grace Cathey graduated from Haywood Community College’s Fiber Art program in 1978.
She later completed a continuing education welding course that led to her life’s work,
Metal Sculpture in 1990. Each of her one-of-a-kind metal sculptures tell a story of
the natural world and encourage the onlooker to reflect on the value of preserving
our environment and history.
Grace has exhibited outdoors at the US Botanical Garden in Washington DC, the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and the North Carolina Arboretum.
Billy Smith
Born and raised just north of Brevard, NC in Pisgah Forest, he found himself drawn
to the flowers, trees, dirt, sky and everything in between instead of the traditional
instructional art book.
Pushed through the typical “school system”, Smith always knew there was more. After multiple adversities, he came to the realization that he could be an artist, as it was innately planted in him.
What started as him sketching local musicians, turned into commissions to do murals around town and then grew into a full-blown art studio instructing Brevard’s youth.
HCC Professional Craft Students
2025 Professional Craft - Wood students, along with their instructor, Brian Wurst
designed and built an amazing bench to enjoy the Butterfly Gardens. This bench has
a curved design with special imprints and cut-outs to remember a retired employee
of HCC.
Rotary Peace Pole
To commemorate the Centennial anniversary of the Waynesville Rotary Club, HCC worked
closely with the group to install a Peace Pole along one of the trails on campus.
This piece is one of many that were designed and installed in Western North Carolina
as part of this celebration.
Main Trail System
HCC features walking trails that wind throughout our campus. Following roads, sidewalks, and designated nature trails, walkers and runners alike are welcome to campus. Many visitors also bring their canine walking partners to join them. The main starting point for the trail system is located near the Hemlock building but visitors can hop on anywhere on campus.
In Spring of 2023, an expanded trail system was developed which now provides hikers over 3 miles of trails to walk on throughout campus. This trail system allows visitors to see more of campus through the wooded areas surrounding campus. With all the wildlife and nature to see, be sure to bring your binoculars, identification books, and more to experience the trail system to its fullest!
Trails are available anytime our gates are open: 6am – 11pm M-F, 8am-7pm Weekends. Please note that if campus is closed for inclement weather, the trails may be inaccessible.