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Focus on: Martina Lantin

 

Fall brings a new exhibition of earthenware by Martina Lantin to the Penland Gallery and Visitors Center. The show runs until October 27.

 

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Mug (L) – Thrown and altered earthenware, slip line and blush, 4.5 x 3 x 3.25, ” Mug (R) – Thrown and altered earthenware, blue and chrome bow line, 4.25 x 3.5 x 3.5″

Lantin creates ceramic tableware from earthenware clay, which she likes to call “chocolate porcelain.” Her unique forms are made by wheelthrowing combined with off-the-wheel alterations. Her pieces, she says, are meant for everyday use. Most of Lantin’s work is made in multiple parts and pieced together leaving some of the seams visible. A thin layer of white slip serves to accentuate the construction methods and to invite an exploration of the making process. “I seek to evoke nostalgia in the future by making pots that are reverberations of the past,” she says. “I draw inspiration from early English porcelain and cream ware. I provoke a tension between the elegant handling of the material and the rugged connotations of the clay body.”

 

Martina Lantin, Focus Gallery installation of plates, 2013
Martina Lantin, Focus Gallery installation of plates, 2013

 

Born in Montreal, Canada, Martina Lantin received her Bachelor of Art from Earlham College and her Master of Fine Art from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. She has been an artist in residence at Baltimore Clayworks and Arrowmont School of Art and Craft in Gatlinburg, TN. She has taught workshops at Penland School of Crafts and Arrowmont. Currently, she is a professor at Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont. Her work has been featured in Ceramics Monthly and shown in numerous juried and invitational exhibitions. She has also published articles in Studio Potter and Pottery Making Illustrated.

 

Martina Lantin at Penland.

Along with this special exhibition of works by Martina Lantin, the Penland Gallery has a sales area featuring work in all media by artists affiliated with Penland School of Crafts. Located on the Penland School campus, just off Penland Road in Mitchell County, the gallery is open 10 – 5, Tuesday through Saturday; 12 – 5 on Sunday; closed on Mondays. The gallery also offers tours of the Penland campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For more information call 828-765-6211 or visit www.penland.org/gallery.

 

 

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Christmas in July: the 2013 Penland Ornament

2013 Penland School of Crafts Ornament of the Year
Created by Stacey Lane

 

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This is the 5th in our series of annual Penland School of Crafts ornaments. We hope that each of these ornaments will capture and share the spirit of creativity that lives within the school’s community of artists and friends. So far we have had two ceramic ornaments, one glass, and one book. This year we are proud to offer the perfect ornament to represent our small metals studios!

Stacey Lane is a studio jeweler living in Bakersville, North Carolina. In addition to creating a beautiful collection of jewelry, she also works for Penland School as the Manager of Community Collaboration.  She shares her life and home with husband/potter Michael Kline, two daughters, and assorted chickens and pets.

“I have a small studio in North Carolina where I create one-of-a-kind jewelry and production work. I make custom pieces for clients incorporating their stones, metal, and personal imagery and show my work in galleries.

“I have always loved making things and thinking about art. I studied Art History at the University of Georgia in Athens. While there, I took a jewelry course with Gary Noffke and was hooked. After college, my metals education continued at Arrowmont and Penland School of Crafts. I moved to Penland in 1997 to be the metals studio coordinator, and I am still here! I now work part-time at Penland as Manager of Community Collaboration, which provides perfect balance to my studio days. I love making jewelry and continue to find magic in converting wax to metal. When I began to make my living in jewelry, I started to pay closer attention to material sources and didn’t like what I found. I looked for ways to continue working while feeling good about the process and materials, and it has been quite a journey.

“I hope that my work conveys a sense of humor, warmth and elegance. I believe in jewelry’s potential to be symbolic, sentimental, superfluous, necessary, and even hopeful. In much of my jewelry, I use the remarkable lost-wax casting process. It enables me to transform soft, pliable wax into intricate metal objects. It also makes recycling metal a natural part of the process. I leave marks on my pieces that emphasize that they are made by hands. I work primarily in silver and gold, but have been using jeweler’s bronze more lately. I am inspired by Dutch still life paintings, children’s book illustrations, poetry, ancient jewelry, food garnishes, animals, and shiny things.”

Click here to visit Stacey’s website.

If you are a fan of Stacey’s jewelry, you will immediately recognize her signature use of cast elements, pearls, and semi-precious stones.

 

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The bird ornament is cast bronze, champagne pearls, and a faceted red drop stone.

 

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The floral bud ornament is cast bronze, white pearls, and a faceted drop jade stone.

The ornament is approximately 4-1/4 inches high by 1-1/2 inches wide x 1/4 inches deep. They cost $50 each, plus tax (when applicable), which includes gift box packaging.
Shipping is via USPS, $5.80 for one ornament (shipping cost adjusted for more than one).
To order: Please call the gallery at 828-765-6211 or email penlandgallery@penland.org. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover cards. You may also purchase an ornament in person at the Penland Gallery.

Click here to visit the Penland Gallery website.

 

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Focus on: Marlene True

Marlene True, "Victorian Bloom 1 and 2;" steel, lithographed steel, 24k gold plate
Marlene True, “Victorian Bloom 1 and 2;” steel, lithographed steel, 24k gold plate

 

The Penland Gallery and Visitors Center is proud to present its third Focus exhibition of the year, a new collection of jewelry in metals and mixed-media by Marlene True, metalsmith, educator, and executive director of Pocosin Arts in Columbia, NC. On view now in the Focus Gallery, this show will run through Sunday, July 28th.

 

Marlene True, "Blossom Earrings;" steel, lithographed steel, 24k gold plate
Marlene True, “Blossom Earrings;” steel, lithographed steel, 24k gold plate

 

“I became enamored with using tin cans in my work after seeing a presentation by Bobby Hansson, author of The Fine Art of the Tin Can, and what I thought might be a just another material to use in my work became an obsession. I now have over 1,500 tin cans in my collection and find the process of collecting and learning about their use and history fascinating. Tin cans are not made of tin but of steel with a thin layer of tin and lithographed images, colors, and text. Those elements are excellent for use in jewelry to create narrative, to add color or make a statement. The steel is great for fabrication and it is possible to make larger pieces without excessive weight, as it is much lighter than silver or gold.

“On a recent trip to Seattle, I acquired a salesman’s sample board of jewelry components from London that date to 1930. Those elements reference Victorian ornamentation and decorative ironwork. Inspired by those motifs, I selected a couple of them and began designing and altering the shapes in steel to create settings for the colorful bits that become the focal point in the pieces. On the steel settings I use patina and heat treatments to create the dark surface and plating with 24k gold to create a rich contrast for the colorful tin. I enjoy the process of transforming this material beyond its original use from containment to ornamentation.

“Meshing repurposed materials with an undercurrent of past to the present is an act of redemption for both memory and material in the process of making.”

-Marlene True

 

Marlene True, "Victorian Blossom Necklace;" steel, lithographed steel, 24k gold plate
Marlene True, “Victorian Blossom Necklace;” steel, lithographed steel, 24k gold plate

 

Click here to visit Marlene True’s website, where you can see more of her work.

Click here to visit the Penland Gallery website.

Penland’s Focus Gallery is a space devoted primarily to single-artist exhibitions. Focusing on individual artists over the course of the year, it presents a larger selection of their work to gallery visitors and patrons.

Click here for more information about the Focus Gallery.