Today is Lola Brooks‘s birthday! An artist metalsmith, a darling of collectors, a clotheshorse, and a stellar educator, Lola is currently sharing her vast knowledge with twelve lucky students for 8 weeks during this year’s spring metals concentration. Her workshop is entitled “All You Can Eat: The Blue Plate Special.”

On her birthday, we want to say some nice things about our friend and 5-time Penland instructor Lola Brooks!

So here are some quotes from friends new and old:

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“Lola is the best mentor there is. Period.”

-Sofie Albertsen, current student

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“Many who are awed by Lola’s incredible work don’t know what a wonderful and devoted teacher she is. I admire her honesty, her passion, and her talent. She brings so much to the field of jewelry and to Penland and we are always so lucky to have her!”

-Leslie Noell, Penland Creative Director

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“Lola is my new style icon.”

-Kimberly Jo, Penland Core Fellow and current student

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“Lola is the greatest because she helps people get to where they don’t even know they are going yet. She can see where a particular person’s creative ideas are and where they might want to go and she pushes them to get there even when they can’t quite see where they are headed yet.”

-Mary Lucking,  current student

It is a testament to Lola’s skill as an educator that 7 of the twelve students in this spring’s class have studied with her before. We’ll be sharing more about this wonderful workshop so stay tuned!