Author: Penland

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Community Open House 2024

What a magical day! On Saturday, February 24th, 2024, visitors, volunteers, and staff alike were treated to a day that was as varied in activities as it was in weather. As makers of all ages strolled from one teaching studio to the next, exploring media like wood, clay, and glass, the weather vacillated between sparkling blue skies and bright sunshine to Dippin’ Dots snow and swirling fog.

Visitors printed inspiring posters designed by local youth

Learning and Exploring

Ten of Penland’s teaching studios offered a thoughtful hands-on activity designed to be enjoyed by any age and any level of ability. Over 130 volunteers were on hand to help orient visitors and share their passion for craft. And, as often happens in Penland’s studios, we saw those who had just learned a new technique passing their knowledge along to others. This continued throughout the day as visitors learned to weave, print, forge, etc., creating finished objects to take home, including 375 poplar magnets, 300 metal relief images, and 80 forged iron hooks. Over 700 visitors included tiny tots wielding hammers, established artists trying something new, and community members who surprised us with their creative takes on each activity. See more photos from the day HERE.

Makers of all ages learned to forge hooks in the iron studio

Nice!

Student Print Collaboration

Visitors to the Penland print studio created prints using Lego dots and printed inspiring posters on the Vandercook presses with help from volunteers. The takeaway poster was designed by students from Mayland Early College High School (MECH) engaged in PATH WNC’s Youth to Youth (Y2Y) program. Visiting the Penland letterpress studio back in October, these students learned about poster design and letterpress printing from Penland print studio coordinator Adam Leestma and brainstormed ideas that would promote positive messages in the community. Their “Enjoy the Little Things” poster was selected for visitors to print during the Open House. More posters will be printed soon to be hung in area schools!

Making Lives Meaningful Through Making 

Established in 1929, Penland’s mission is Making Lives Meaningful Through Making. Throughout the year, this takes the form of intensive craft workshops, residencies, gallery shows, and community outreach. We believe that generosity enhances education, with close interaction between people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds promoting the exchange of information and ideas for the benefit of all. The Community Open House is a celebration of community, creativity, and the joy of making.

Volunteers in the clay studio shared their skills with visitors who learned to throw a clay vessel or create a sculpture

Come back soon…

As February draws to a close, we are preparing for another action-packed year at Penland. We hope that visitors and neighbors take advantage of all that Penland has to offer, including local standby scholarships for our intensive craft workshops, kid’s camps and youth workshops, rotating exhibitions in our Gallery and Visitor’s Center, a network of walking trails, the Penland Coffee House and Supply Store, a self-guided tour, the Penland Resident Artist studios at The Barns, and many events throughout the year. Fire on the Mountain is coming up on April 27th!

Visitors to the Penland photography studio made cyanotype handkerchiefs

Miss Lucy in the mix!

Thank you!

Community Open House would not be possible without over 130 volunteers, Penland staff, and our open-hearted visitors. We are so grateful to everyone that made the day possible. Thanks to Lil Pete’s barbecue truck and our hard-working coffee house staff who served hundreds of hot drinks to visitors. Thanks to Ellie Richards for designing this year’s volunteer apron. Thanks to Sibelco, who sponsored the volunteer luncheon and who’s employees were among the day’s volunteers. And thanks to PATH WNC and the students who designed the letterpress poster!

Wood studio visitors customized poplar wood magnets using many different techniques

So creative!

2024 Community Open House Activities
  • Clay Studio – Making pots at the wheel or small clay sculptures
  • Glass Studio – Hands on lampwork bead making and hot glass demonstrations
  • Letterpress Studio – Printing posters designed by students from MECHS Youth to Youth on the Vandercooks and Lego printing with homemade presses
  • Metals Studio – Embossing designs of local plants and wildlife onto metal foil
  • Papermaking Studio – Learning the basics of paper sheet formation and pulp painting while making fun paper butterflies
  • Photography Studio – Making original cyanotype prints using patterns from nature, science, and architecture.
  • Paste Painting – Making sheets of decorative paste-paper using pigmented paste and colorful sheets of paper 
  • Textiles Studio – Making small tapestries and watching floor loom weaving and spinning demonstrations
  • Iron Studio – Forging wall hooks
  • Wood Studio –Customizing wooden magnets through shaping, carving and painting

We took lots of photos! You can find them HERE.

This magnet says it all: “This is awesome! Making wood things!”

Local artist Kurt Anderson helped visitors explore the magic of paste painting

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A Two-Headed Sweater About Being an Artist

Kendall Ross with her work in the Penland textiles studio.

Penland Winter Resident Kendall Ross‘s art sweaters have won the hearts of curators, art-lovers, and the internet. Known for her bright colors, mind-bending color work, and confessional style, Kendall makes her creative home in her native Oklahoma City where she is a full time studio artist. At Penland, we were charmed by the quickness and ease with which Kendall seems to bring her work into being . We were also honored to host Kendall for her first artist residency.  “I was so inspired by the talent of the other artists I was working around and the support of the Penland staff,” she said. “I feel like I’ve formed so many new and important connections in my life with new friends and artists.”

Kendall completed quite a bit of work while here at Penland. One finished piece was a two-headed sweater about her relationship to her creative practice that she encouraged us to try on at show and tell.

We took the opportunity to interview Kendall about her two-headed sweater. Please enjoy!

Kendall uses “StitchFiddle” to plan out her designs

INTERVIEW WITH KENDALL ROSS

What inspired the two-headed sweater? 

Right now, I am inspired by the idea of making pieces about the relationship I have with my work and artistic process. When I’m writing text though, I love to use language that could be taken in so many different ways based on who is reading it. So for me, the two-headed sweater is about my relationship with people’s perception of my work, but someone else could think it’s about a bad relationship. 

I wanted to put two different sweaters into one piece because the way I feel about the creative process is essentially two sides of the same coin. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years trying so hard to be taken seriously or be seen as a real artist, but at the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks because the work and the process of creating is ultimately mine. For me, though, there is no way to get rid of the fear of how people will see you and what you do, so even when you focus on the process for yourself you’re still carrying the fear and the baggage of perception and expectation with you. 

Also- truthfully, I just thought it would be so funny to make a two-headed sweater and I wanted to see if I could do it successfully, haha. I loved watching people try it on at Show and Tell. 

Trying on the two-headed sweater at show and tell

For us craft nerds: How did you make it? 

I hand-knit each piece using a combination of intarsia and stranded (fair-isle) colorwork. I spend a lot of time charting out and designing each piece using software called “StitchFiddle,” which is essentially digital graph paper where I can notate where I need to change colors when I’m knitting. 

I knit this piece in six pieces. I started by knitting the front left, front right, back left, and back right panels. I seamed all of those together and knit both sleeves in the round. The last thing I did was pick up and knit stitches around the neckline to make the folded collars and wove in all the ends.

How long did it take you to knit the two-headed sweater? 

I started this piece on the first Saturday of the residency. At that point, I was working to knit up the back panel of the big vest I made, which is mostly one color. I can’t work on something simple for too long before I get antsy, so I designed the chart and started knitting the black and white half of it before I finished the vest. 

Most of the piece was made during the second week of the residency after I finished the vest. I was determined to complete the two-headed sweater because I wanted to have a piece that was made entirely during my time at the residency. I was working on finishing the second sleeve the morning of the last day so it would be ready for people to try on at Show and Tell. 

What was your two-week Penland Winter Residency like? 

I could probably talk about this for hours, but it was literally incredible. I don’t have an art school background, and I had never done a residency before so I had no expectations of what the Penland Winter Residency would look like. I was so inspired by the talent of the other artists I was working around and the support of the Penland staff. I feel like I’ve formed so many new and important connections in my life with new friends and artists. 

I am in a unique situation compared to other artists because knitting is so portable, so it’s not like I needed to do a residency to have access to specific facilities like a kiln. However, the time and space to focus on my work outside of my day-to-day environment was so impactful and pushed me to create work that is different than what I normally create. I could say so many good things about my time at Penland, and I’m excited to return someday!

Is knitting your full-time job? What’s next?

Yes! I knit full-time! I have a lot of exciting things lined up for this year, including a solo show at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Art Museum that opens in August. 

During my time at Penland, I started thinking about ways I could shift my practice to create work that is bigger and less wearable than what I usually create. I’m excited to make new exciting and weird things in the future!

Thank you for sharing your practice, Kendall!

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Learning Greenwood Turning with Raul de Lara

Raul de Lara is a newly-minted bowl turner. 

Invited as a Penland Winter Residency Distinguished Fellow, the New York-based sculptor knew exactly what he wanted from his residency in the Penland wood studio: to learn everything he could about  turning bowls on a lathe.

Red oak logs from a fallen Penland tree await the lathe. 

A solo show coming up in May will feature Raul’s iconic botanical sculptures, supported by large, lathe-turned bowls and vases. Raul was a quick study, and it was a lot of fun to watch him get better and better, turning a pile of Penland red oak into a beautiful body of work.

A work in progress in the Penland wood studio

Raul’s Penland stay even included a trip to visit “wooden potter,” David Ellsworth, who lives an hour away. “I learned so much from David’s book and I use his signature tool,” said Raul. “I was able to show him some of my new work and we became friends immediately.”

Raul will spend the next two months preparing for his show at Reynolds Gallery which opens on May 3.

Raul’s work on display at show and tell

We asked Raul to share a few tips about greenwood turning… Enjoy!

My advice would be to make sure to have friends around who can help you load/unload the big, heavy wet logs onto the lathe. For me, it was important to learn the basic techniques from David Ellsworth’s book before jumping into more intricate forms (like the ones you’ll see in my solo show). David also makes his own signature tool, which is what I used to make my work here at Penland.

Raul makes his way up to show and tell with his newly-turned vessels.

Thank you for sharing your practice with us, Raul! You can find more of his stunning work HERE. 

Raul de Lara is a 2024 Penland Winter Residency Distinguished Fellow, one of eleven individuals receiving an award to attend the residency at no cost and with the support of a stipend, made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Penland’s Winter Residency program is a short-term residency opportunity for artists seeking to work independently in one of our sixteen studios during Penland’s quiet season. This year, nearly 150 residents brought their studio practices to Penland’s teaching studios for for two to four focused weeks.

We are excited to share more Penland Winter Residency stories. Please stay tuned for more…