JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Seth Phelps works on a pot at his father's pottery studio. Tom Phelps' Floyd County pottery studio can be hard to find, which is why Phelps says he became a member of the Regional Artisan Trail Network. The network, created by 'Round the Mountain, aims to promote artists in Southwest Virginia through trails that promote artisans in 19 counties and four cities.

FLOYD -- "Sorry we're late; we got lost on the way here.

"That's why we need the artisan trail!"

Buried deep in Floyd County, Tom Phelps' pottery studio can be hard to find, so that type of conversation happens often, he said.

That's why Phelps became a member of the Regional Artisan Trail Network. He said he hopes to gain exposure.

'Round the Mountain, a group created to promote artists in Southwest Virginia, is working to develop trails that promote artisan studios, galleries, farms, agritourism sites and venues that support artisans in 19 counties and four cities, including Montgomery, Pulaski, Floyd and Giles counties and the city of Radford.

Each locality will have its own artisan trail, which will be part of the larger regional trail. There will not be physical trails built, but rather more of a comprehensive directory of sites, said Pat Sharkey, trail development coordinator for eastern counties.

"The whole idea is that southwestern Virginia gets a brand-name quality," Sharkey said. "When people think of southwestern Virginia, we want them to think of quality products and come to support people with their business."

The project is still in the works, so 'Round the Mountain staff are still working to develop the brochures and designate sites. They have been holding meetings in the area to try to entice artisans to join, Sharkey said, including a recent meeting in Pulaski County. More meetings are tentatively planned in Montgomery and Giles counties and Radford after the holiday season.

Potential members pay a $50 fee to become an artisan trail member.

The home base of the trails will be a $50 million art center called Heartwood in Abingdon. A groundbreaking is scheduled in January, and the center should be open in late 2010. It is mostly funded by grants from the Virginia Works Project.

"Anything that is good for me as an artist is good for the community," Phelps said. "It's a hopeful thing, because it hasn't really started yet."

Every piece of pottery bought in his studio is one fewer piece Phelps has to take on the road to sell to art shows across the country, he said.

A brochure will mark each trail site, and a larger brochure will show all the sites in the 19 counties, Sharkey said. They are set to be distributed in mid-2009. Artists that have already joined are currently listed on the 'Round the Mountain Web site, roundthemountain.org.

Each participating site will display a 'Round the Mountain sign designating it as a trail site, but there are too many to try to put signs along the road, Sharkey said.

Membership currently stands at about 104 trail sites, Sharkey said.

Trails have been in place in Wythe and Bland counties since May 2007, said Marcella Taylor, marketing coordinator for the Wytheville department of museums.

Those localities became the project's pilot trails, Sharkey said.

The Wythe and Bland trails have about 60 sites -- 50 in Wythe County and 10 in Bland County, Taylor said.

"Right now, we just did our own thing," Taylor said.

They currently have about 10,000 Wythe and Bland artisan trail maps scattered across the counties, including in the Heritage Center and Big Walker Country Store in Wytheville, the Wolf Creek Indian Village gift shop in Bland County, and Virginia welcome centers in Bristol, Covington, Clearbrook, Rocky Gap and Lambsburg.

"It's going to be wonderful when they have all these counties linked together," Taylor said. "You'll definitely know where to go."