Category: Photo of the Week

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Photo of the Week: The Final Touch

Those of you who spent time at Penland last spring and summer will surely remember all the activity around the Craft House. During our major restoration of this beloved building, we upgraded windows and doors, re-shingled the siding, worked on the roof, and—most notably—replaced about 20 percent of the logs that clad the exterior. Perhaps the most remarkable part of the process was how the new elements of the building were added so skillfully that they are already virtually indistinguishable from their older counterparts.

It was in this way—with great skill and care and craft—that the final piece of the restoration was completed at the beginning of the month. Blacksmith and artist Greg Gehner designed, fabricated, and installed these elegant panels to bring the iconic Craft House railing up to current building codes. Considering how many people know and love this porch, altering the railing was a project we approached with trepidation. We are thrilled with Greg’s solution—one that references the Craft House’s distinctive stone chinking, preserves the views we all cherish, and exemplifies the functionality and beauty of the craft we teach here at Penland.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still doesn’t come close to an experience. Come visit us soon to enjoy this fine porch in person!

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Photo of the Week: Bandsaw Boxes!

Penland staff posing with their in-progress bandsaw boxes

Pictured in this photo are a couple metalsmiths, a photographer, a few teachers, a glassblower, some folks who can maneuver a tractor, two people who sure know their way around an Excel spreadsheet, at least four potters, moms and dads, a rock climber, a painter, a tiny-house builder, vegetable gardeners, travelers—in short, a selection of Penland’s adventurous, talented, dedicated staff!

Today, instead of being out in the maintenance building or the local schools or the main office, these folks spent the day in the wood studio with coordinator Ellie Richards (she’s the one in the middle with the yellow drill!). Ellie taught a one-day workshop on making bandsaw boxes. It’s a fairly simple, endlessly adaptable process that involves sawing a solid block of wood into pieces, removing the central piece, gluing it all back up into a box, refining the shape, and decorating with whatever colors and textures and fancy bits your heart desires.

Knowing this group, the end results will be quirky, beautiful, and full of personality.

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Photo(s) of the Week: Chickens, Bees, and Woodcuts

This is printmaker Jun Lee with one copy of the fantastic six-color chicken print she created during winter residency. Jun and fellow printmaker Steven Muñoz assisted each other as they each worked through the high-wire process of making large, multi-color reduction woodcuts. This process involves printing a series of different colors from the same woodblock. The carving is altered between each layer so there’s no going back.

 

This is Steven and Jun running one of Steven’s prints through the press for the last layer. Jun wrote: “Steven is the director at the Lee Arts Center where I’m the printmaking artist in residence. We’ve been colleagues, friends, and supporters of each other. We are both super stubborn but somehow we work pretty well as a team. Of course, there were some obstacles but we worked them out with laughs after making silly jokes, plus Penland Coffee House cold brew.”

 

Here’s Steven lifting the print after printing the black layer, which was the last of the four.

 

Steven and Jun with their blocks at the end of the month (photo by Penland staff member Cami Leisk). Steven wrote: “As I reflect, readjust and return back into my life after being at Penland winter residency for a month, I am heartened to know that I have made new, lasting friendships and strengthened existing ones. Penland School of Craft is that kind of place; one where you can work on your artistic endeavors and ideas but also one where you can connect over lunch or late dinners or during studio visits and find synergies amongst other artists working in different media and collaborate and develop and nurture each other in ways you can’t elsewhere and beyond.”

BONUS: Jun’s post on Instagram that shows how she built the print, layer by layer.