Penland Summer Session 7 Classes

Classes are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.
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Janna Pullman, Clamshell Book Boxes, slipcase,

four flap box, and folded cardboard box

Boxes are both visually pleasing and functional containers for books, small sculptural objects, and other works of art. We will learn basic box-making techniques and variations, including curved forms, hidden compartments, and interior walls. Our goal will be to construct unique, beautiful boxes while exploring the expressive qualities of boxes and the ways they can complete the presentation of your artwork. All levels. Code 07B

Book artist, binder, conservator; owner of Western Slope Bindery (Minneapolis) specializing in custom binding and book repair; teaching: Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Arrowmont (TN), Midwest Guild of Bookworkers; collections: Rijksmuseum (Netherlands), Milwaukee Art Museum.

Anna Calluori Holcombe, Natura Viva II

This class will give students interested in developing rich and layered surfaces a chance to expand their palettes. We will use techniques such as china paint, decals, slips, underglazes, and overglazes, and we will incorporate drawing, photography, scanning, and collage to develop imagery. We will explore various surfaces including manufactured tiles and plates along with tiles and other items made in class. All levels. Code 07CA

Professor of ceramics at University of Florida; member International Academy of Ceramics; work in 500 Prints on Clay (Lark Books); co-author of an article on decals in Ceramics Technical.

Liz Zlot Summerfield, Ewer, handbuilt earthenware,

terra sigillata, underglaze, glaze, 4 x 3 x 2-1/2 in.

What makes your favorite pot so special? Is it the form, the feel in your hand, or the vibrant color that creates excitement within you? Pots have the power to evoke memories, feelings, and emotions. Let's make those pots! Students in the class will learn to create a variety of handbuilt functional pots using paper patterns and soft clay slabs. We will explore a variety of forms and attachments including lids, feet, and spouts. We will work with earthenware and devote some discussion and work time to surface treatments using terra sigillata and underglazes.

We will discuss how to draw from personal influences to better individualize our work. We will explore the broad term "function" through slide talks, class discussion, and making pots. There will be lots of individual instruction in a supportive, positive environment that will encourage experimentation and individual development. Students are encouraged to come with questions, sketches, and some pictures (not only of pots) they are drawn to. All levels, but some handbuilding skills will be helpful. Code 07CB

Studio artist; teaching: Western Piedmont Community College (NC), Shakerag (TN), Mudfire (GA), Arrowmont (TN); galleries: AKAR Gallery (IA), Schaller Gallery (MI), Crimson Laurel Gallery (NC), Penland Gallery (NC); featured on the cover of Ceramics Monthly and Clay Times.

Fawn Potash, Broadcreek Wood, encaustic and oil

paints on photograph, 13 x 28 in.

First-century artists used encaustic--a combination of beeswax, resin, and pigment--to create funeral masks for the Etruscan aristocracy. Contemporary painters, printmakers, photographers, and sculptors use its unique properties to add dimension, translucency, layers, and sensual qualities to their work. This workshop will encourage playful experimentation while covering the basics of encaustic technique, including smooth and textured surfaces, transfers, combining oil and wax, dipping, collage, three-dimensional options, and safety. All levels. Code 07D

Studio artist; teaching: School of Visual Art (NYC), Center for Photography (NY), Peters Valley (NJ); exhibitions: Albany Airport Gallery (NY), Samuel Dorsky Museum (NY); collections: Sony, Dow Jones, Standard and Poors Asia.

Jeff Mack, Dinosaurs, glass

This class will focus on building skills at the furnace. It is for students who wish to gain a foundation in traditional vessel-forming technique, nurturing their craft practice with an eye toward enhancing the sophistication and complexity or refining the simplicity of their designs and concepts for glass. Techniques will include basic and complex vessel forming, bit application, goblet making, and selective color application including cane work. Intermediate level: basic hot glass skills required. Code 07GA

Head of the glass studio at Toledo Museum of Art; teaching: College for Creative Studies (Detroit), Michigan Hot Glass Workshop (Detroit); Ox-Bow (MI); collections: Corning Museum (NY), Detroit Institute of the Arts, Toledo Museum, Henry Ford Museum (MI).

Joe Peters, Octopus Coral Reef,

flameworked glass, 13 x 24 in.

Bring your imagination to life through flameworked glass. We will make human forms, animals, plants, and aquatic life. Using borosilicate glass, we will explore sculptural techniques, the use of color, and both solid and hollow forms. Students will begin with small-scale projects and then progress to assembling larger sculptures. If you choose to bring a design with you, I’ll guide you through the processes needed to get a finished product.

Studio artist; teaching: Snow Farm (MA); 2011 and 2012 NICHE awards; representation: Corning Museum Gallery (NY), Monterey Bay Aquarium (CA), Pismo Gallery (CO), Hodgell Gallery (FL), Dane Gallery (MA).

Jeffrey Funk, Menorah, wrought iron

This class will explore forging simple but important tools used for cultivating the land. Prior to the industrial revolution and the establishment of the factory system, blacksmiths were called upon to make iron tools of all sorts for use on farms and homesteads. Handmade tools can employ the intent and spirit of the maker/user better than any manufactured item, while providing an excellent opportunity to develop forging technique. There are a number of simple cultivation tools that are within the reach of the student blacksmith that offer an opportunity to produce something of lasting functional and aesthetic value.

The class is open to both novice and experienced students; projects will be assigned accordingly. We will emphasize building the important skill sets that are important for any forged work. Beginning projects will include trowels, sickles, drawknives, and goosnecked hoes. For those with more experience, possibilities include billhooks, adzes, axes, eyed hoes, double-ended eye hoes, and shovels. Emphasizing sustainable blacksmithing practices, we will work primarily with hand tools, use scrap steel when we can, and fire our forges with charcoal. All levels. Code 07i

Studio artist; teaching: Peters Valley (NJ), University of Montana, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; commissions: Montgomery Bell Academy (Nashville), Idaho Panhandle National Forest.

Melanie Bilenker, Stepping into Shoes brooch,

hair, paper, wood, gold, brass, mineral crystal,

2 x 2 x 1/2 in.

Students in this workshop will make pendants or brooches to preserve personal mementos under watch crystals. Through demonstrations of basic jewelry fabrication techniques, including bezel settings, rivets, tabs, and pegs, students will learn to incorporate varied materials into jewelry. Inspiration will come from historic and contemporary wearable keepsakes. We will use collaborative problem solving to approach the unique challenges presented by each piece. All levels welcome, but basic metalworking skills will be helpful. Code 07MA

Studio artist; teaching: University of the Arts (Philadelphia); Pew arts fellowship; exhibitions: Renwick Gallery (DC), Kohler Arts Center (WI), representation: Sienna Gallery (MA), Gallerie Ra (Netherlands).

Fred Fenster, Bowl, pewter, 8 in. tall

This is a basic class in making pewter objects for the home and table. The class will cover raising, sinking, fusing, soldering, scoring, folding, basic tool making, and other skills needed to make unique pieces. The class will include daily demonstrations. Books, magazines, and examples of finished work will be available at all times.

Fred: professor emeritus from University of Wisconsin-Madison; fellow of the American Craft Council, Penland 2011 Outstanding Artist Educator; collections: Renwick Gallery (DC), North Carolina Museum of Art. Hiroko: studio artist, owner of Hyart Gallery (WI); honorary fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; work exhibited at American Craft Council shows in Baltimore, San Francisco, and St. Paul.

Arno Rafael Minkkinen, 1974 - Beach Pond,

Connecticut, gelatin silver print, 50 x 40 in.

The freedom to photograph everything is one of photography’s greatest challenges. We can easily become a thousand photographers. Focus can be found in something George Braque said: “out of limitations, new forms emerge.” Focus means ruling out what we will not do so that we can be inspired to invent what we have yet to discover. Portfolio reviews and group critiques will suggest pathways. One photograph is not the answer. Making another that is similar but different just leads to comparison—which one works best?. But when the third image arrives, a pathway is visible. Our goal will be to create a new body of work that is effective and consistent. The work of photographers, filmmakers, writers and poets will be offered for inspiration. Students may work digitally or in the darkroom. Intermediate/advanced: for students who have done at least two years of portfolio-level work. Code 07P

Professor of art at University of Massachusetts-Lowell, docent at Aalto University of Art and Design (Helsinki); author of seven monographs of his self-portraits; First Class Order of the Lion medal from the Finnish government, Finnish State Art Prize in photography; collections: Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Musée dArt Moderne (Paris), Finnish Museum of Photography, Center for Creative Photography (AZ), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

Sam Chun

Students in this class will assume three different roles: the artist, the carver, and the printer. The class will cover all the information and skills you need to make artwork using traditional and contemporary methods with wood, pigment, water, and paper. Ukiyo-e is a mobile and press-free way of printing that can give you a wide range of marks from graphic to subtle. All levels. Code 07X

Studio artist; print fellow at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (NYC).

The letterpress studio will be used this session for Business Time with Phil Sanders.

Libby O'Bryan

The new art economy demands crossing the boundaries of craftsmanship, design research, artistic process, and business planning. Students with an existing sewn sample and pattern (at any level) will come together in this workshop for a collaborative product-development session including pattern and construction evaluation, fabric and trim resourcing, spec sheet creation, cash flow and costing, and marketing. Students must bring a drafted pattern and sewn sample to develop in class, plus a computer. Code 07TA

Studio and performance artist, founder of Sew Co. (NC), a cut and sew contracting and product development facility; exhibitions: Chicago Cultural Center, Knoxville Museum of Art (TN), Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (NC); graduate of Fashion Institute of Technology and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Alice Schlein, Wintertree,

handwoven cotton and

tencel, 29 x 14 in.

Develop weave drafts for the shaft loom, dobby loom, or jacquard loom using Photoshop in conjunction with your favorite weaving program. This design method frees the weaver from block constraints and opens possibilities for free-form motifs. It also allows you to create a library of structures to use in endless combinations. Students should be familiar with at least one weaving program and be able to read a weaving draft. No weaving done in class. Students must bring a computer. Code 07GB

Studio artist; teaching: Arrowmont (TN), Penland, and online classes; co-author (with Bhakti Ziek) of The Woven Pixel, author of The Liftplan Connection: Designing for Dobby Looms with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

David Caldwell, Cresting and Shield for Columbarium,

white oak, 7 in. tall

Woodcarving has been part of the building trades and fine art throughout history. This class will help students develop traditional carving skills that apply to furniture and architectural ornamentation, relief panels, lettering, and carving in the round. Students may bring work in progress, start a new project, or work through a series of exercises. Discussions and demonstrations will focus on tool selection and carving techniques. Sharpening instruction will be provided as needed. All levels. Code 07W

Studio artist; teaching: Cleveland County Arts Council (NC), Arrowmont (TN); master carver for Cornel Zimmer Organ Builders (NC); work in churches from New York to San Francisco.

Phil Sanders, Robert Blackburn Printmaking

Workshop and PS Marlowe Logos

"I am teaching a new kind of class at Penland School of Crafts this summer, called Business Time. And yes, we all need it. I have been advising artists for quite some time, either through Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop or through my company, PS Marlowe. It's a delicate operation, advising artists about something that is both personal and public, but we all need the help. You can’t go it alone."

Every artist struggles with balancing business and studio time. This class will help each artist to understand and examine the business of making and selling their work. We will cover cost of production, bookkeeping, balance sheets, and appropriate target marketing, as well as artist statements and presenting your work. There will be group discussions and one-on-one review sessions.

There are no media or discipline requirements for students in this class. All artists face the same questions when looking for the appropriate venues for their work: "Who is my target audience? Where in the art or craft world does my work belong? Am I clearly communicating my artistic goals and intentions to my audience?" This class is designed to help each participant find their own way. There is no single way to make a career as an artist. There is, however, a way for you to understand what you want, what you need, what is possible for you, and how you can be confident in your decision-making process.

All of us have had many teachers while we learned the craft of making our work. We need the same guidance in learning the craft of business. This is an advanced level seminar for artists practicing in any media. It is for individuals who are showing and selling their work but are in a career position to take their business practice to a higher level. Emerging, mid-career, and established professionals are encouraged to apply. Code 05L

Artist, master printer, publisher, creative services consultant, nonprofit arts administrator; director/master printer at Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (NYC), founder/director of PS Marlowe, an artistic consultancy and art project publisher (NYC); teaching: Stanford University (CA), San Francisco State University; collections: Metropolitan Museum (NYC), Yale University Art Gallery (CT).

NOTE: Students who wish to apply for this class should submit 10 images of their recent work, along with an image documentation sheet (Word or PDF), a letter explaining their interest in the class (250 words or less, Word or PDF), and contact information for e-mail, phone, or Skype communication with the instructor. All submissions must be sent digitally to the Penland registrar on a CD.

Image requirements:
10 images saved as JPGs, 72 dpi, maximum dimension 1020 pixels long, files should be named like this: lastname_firstname_01. Example: sanders_phil_01.jpg, sanders_phil_02.jpg, etc.