Penland School of Crafts Specials Summer 2010

Classes are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.

Dorothy Gill Barnes, A Harvested Variety,

natural materials, sizes vary

Using mostly materials gathered from the Penland landscape, students in this class will construct vessels or sculptures that honor nature using a variety of techniques: carpentry, sewing, weaving—whatever is appropriate to local materials and suitable to individual inspiration. We will work with respectfully harvested heavy and delicate barks, grasses, wood, vines, and roots. Waxed linen and wire may be used for support if required. Basketry, carpentry, or weaving skills will be helpful but the class is open to all levels. Code 01tb
Second-floor textiles studio.

Studio artist; teaching: Arrowmont (TN), Haystack (ME); fellow of the American Craft Council, lifetime achievement award from the National Museum of Women in the Arts (DC); collections: Renwick Gallery (DC), Museum of Arts and Design (NYC).

This class will explore portraiture through mask-making and movement. Starting with our own faces as a platform for examining the movement of expression, we will first make masks and dances and then make giant faces that function as sculptural forms and as performance objects (i.e. puppets). We will pay particular attention to the intersection between sculpture and the performing body. For students of all levels who enjoy making things and moving. Code 02d
Drawing/painting studio.

Clare: director and performer of canastoria, toy theater, outdoor puppetry, and stilt dancing; veteran of Bread and Puppet Theater.
Erica: choreographer and performer; creator of works that have been performed across the U.S.and internationally; faculty member at Second City (Chicago).

Clare Dolan, Green Man Mask, paper maché,

cardboard and paint, 4-1/2 x 2-1/2 feet

Erica Mott, from Discard

Phil Renato, Drive, carved urethane

Car bumpers, switches, DVDs, and disposable cutlery share more than the common name (plastic) we use to describe them. These strings of organic compounds were engineered to buffer, seal, and insulate us in ways that other materials could not. This workshop will press firm and flexible materials (in pre-formed and resin states) into the service of one-of-a-kind object making. We will cast, spray, dip, carve, and fabricate objects that exploit the color, translucency, and volume of plastics to make objects that might not succeed in metal, glass, or clay. We will transcend the reputation and leverage the potential of this vast material category. All levels. Code 03mb
Downstairs metals studio.

Chair of metals/jewelry design at Kendall College of Art and Design (MI); more than 50 group exhibitions, numerous publications.

Andrea Peterson, Cultural Influence, kozo,

pigmented cotton, grey ink, 44 x 72 in.

“You should send students outside with their journals to notice what is going on,” advised third grader Dorian when asked what teachers could do to improve the next year’s class. We will follow Dorian’s advice, first by assembling a few book structures with proven classroom applications. But more important will be the ways we find to inhabit our books, increasing our interaction with the living world, following our questions, and embodying classroom studies. Throughout, we will maintain a conversation about teaching. Open to teachers of all disciplines. All levels. Code 04b
Book/paper studio.

Stephen Sidelinger, Cloths of Heaven, gouache

and mixed media on paper, 18 x18 in.

All crafts at some point are easier with an understanding of pattern structures and methods—being able to see and think in repeats. This class will provide hands-on methods for creating 15 kinds of patterns. We will start with basic patterns: from block, brick, diamond, and step to geometric structures and free-form repeats. Then we will draw from the past: primitive ornament, Egyptian, Greek, and Asian patterns, manuscript illumination, William Morris, and Art Deco. No previous knowledge of pattern design needed. All levels.
Code 05ta
Third-floor textiles studio.

Faculty at Ringling College of Art (FL); author of Visual Language: A Guide to Finding Personal Style, and A Color Manual. stephensidelinger.com The second-floor textiles studio will be used this session for an exploratory workshop for artists in any media, titled All About the Why.

Christina Shmigel, Bamboo Window, bamboo,

plastic string, the city of Shangai, 24 x 28 in.

This is a workshop for makers in any medium who want to deepen their understanding of the wellsprings of their work. Through a series of riddles and explorations, using images, 3D sketching, book- and model-making, and materials different from, but parallel to, our customary ones, we will investigate what makes our work uniquely ours. With play and curiosity, we will explore ways of opening up our future work. All levels. Code 05tb
Second-floor textiles studio.

Studio artist in sculptural installation; former professor of sculpture at Webster University (St. Louis); solo exhibitions: St. Louis Art Museum, Laumeier Sculpture Park (St. Louis), Duolun Museum of Art (Shanghai).