Everyone who came to the instructor’s retreat was asked to bring an object that would fit into a 4 x 4 x 4 inch square. The first night these were placed into this grid along with a tag saying who had made each item. After that, anyone was welcome to alter or add to someone else’s object. People brought tiny sculptures, found objects, inscrutable constructions, and visual ideas.

Every day it changes as something gets a new coat of paint, another item sprouts a little stand, a tiny paper figure appears between two sheets of glass, or  a blank book acquires some content. You and your friends could do this, too.

Monday was an excellent day at the Penland instructors retreat. We had six requested demos scheduled and then four more were added based on interests expressed after people got here. These demos are all being done by participants for the benefit of other participants (kind of but not exactly like Burning Man).

Jeff Goodman led a lively session last night on craft and technology. There was a silly photobooth at the Pines. People worked on projects of all sorts. All day, we kept hearing people say, “I’ve always wanted to try this.” or “I’m playing with materials I don’t know much about.” Perfect! Ben Dory, who is assisting in the metals studio just said, “There’s been a lot of crazy engineering going on in here.”