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Happy Birthday, Miss Lucy!

It’s September 20th once again, and time to celebrate the birth of Lucy Morgan!

 

lucy-morgan

Lucy Calista Morgan (1889-1981)

 

Lucy Morgan came to Penland in 1920 to work at the Appalachian Industrial School, an Episcopal school for children. In 1923 “Miss Lucy” traveled from Penland to Berea College in Kentucky to learn to weave. She returned with three looms and the intention of helping local Penland women supplement their family incomes through the cottage industry of weaving. In 1929 Morgan founded the Penland School of Handicrafts, which became today’s Penland School of Crafts.

When Morgan first came to Penland there were very few roads and most of the traffic was on foot. In Gift From the Hills, her memoir, she describes searching out one of the remaining old-time weavers in the area, a trip she expected to be two and a half miles long:

“We walked down hill and up, and down again, over rocky, furrowed roads, through short cuts, along bypaths, around big rocks, over fallen tree trunks. After miles of walking we met a man and asked him how far it was to Aunt Susan Phillips’ house… ‘Nigh on to two miles and a half.’ [he said].

…We trudged on, relieved when we came to a downhill stretch but discouraged when we began another uphill climb. We crossed small streams, pushed brambles and vines out of our way to keep to the twisting path, and plodded across hollows. Then we met another man. We told him we were on our way to the home of Aunt Susan Phillips…

‘Right from here, best I can figure it, ‘twould be about two miles and a half.’ [he said].

…When we were certain we had walked the third two miles and a half, we came to an open place and saw in the field down below us two sunbonneted women planting corn. We called down to them: ‘Could you ladies please give us directions how to get to Aunt Susan Phillips’ house?’ One of them pointed to the other. ‘Here she is.’”

We invite you to join us in celebration of this woman of indomitable spirit, honoring her birth and her vision for a crafts school in these mountains.

 

—Carey Hedlund, Penland archivist

 

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Remembering Jane Hatcher

jane

This Saturday, we’ll celebrate the life of Penland’s dear friend and close neighbor Jane Hatcher, who died last month at age 77 after a long and courageous struggle with vascular dementia. Jane and her partner, Mary Anglin, lived for decades just around the corner from Penland. She was a frequent visitor to the school–a person we saw often at the coffee shop and show-and-tell and occasionally as a student or yoga instructor. Jane was caring, funny, energetic, and enthusiastic: about life, about creative work, about other people, about nature, her home, and whatever she was learning at that moment. Any day that included a conversation with Jane was a better day.

Mary wrote these words about her partner:

“Born in Columbus, Georgia, Jane had a successful career as an educator before moving to North Carolina in the 1970s to take courses in clay and participate in the Resident Artist Program at Penland. In addition to her career as a studio potter and a teacher in Penland’s clay program and through the “artist in the schools” program, she worked for many years as a massage therapist and practitioner/ teacher of yoga. Above all, she was an ardent student of life; a reader of poetry, literature, philosophy, and systems of healing; an artist who continued making work throughout her life; and friend to all she knew.”

There will be a short ceremony on the knoll at Penland at 2:00 PM on Saturday, September 17. This will be followed by a reception at The Pines, with a slideshow and a display of Jane’s work, including some pots and paintings made in the last few years. The reception will be catered but anyone who wishes to is welcome to bring food to the celebration. Please come a few minutes early to find parking.

The family has suggested that memorial gifts be made to Hospice of Yancey County (856 Georges Fork Road, Burnsville, NC 28714), the Jane M. Hatcher Scholarship at Penland School (PO Box 37 Penland, NC 28765), or  Memory Care (100 Far Horizons Lane, Asheville, NC 28803.

 

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Our New Favorite Podcast

Make/Time podcast

 

We’re excited to share the news about Make/Time, a new podcast series and our current favorite listen. Hosted by Stuart Kestenbaum, the series explores fine craft, inspiration, and the creative process through interviews with established craft artists from across the field.

“Having conversations with leading and emerging craft artists gives me the opportunity to dig deeply behind the scenes,” says Kestenbaum. “Every episode gives us a special look at the person behind the work, their ideas, and the inspiration that helps them achieve excellence in this field.”

The most recent episode of Make/Time features furniture designer Vivian Beer. Before winning season two of Ellen’s Design Challenge on HGTV, Vivian spent three years at Penland as a resident artist. On the podcast, she discusses blending traditional making with new technology, as well as her desire to make great design more economically accessible.

 

Vivian Beer portrait
Vivian Beer talks with host Stuart Kestenbaum on the fourth episode of “Make/Time.”

 

Previous episodes of the podcast have featured Tom Joyce, a sculptor and MacArthur Fellow known for his work architectural work and large public sculptures in forged steel; Sonya Clark, head of the Craft and Material Studies Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, whose work in textiles often addresses issues of race in America; and Tim McCreight, a jeweler, writer, and publisher who has begun an innovative program with West African jewelers.

Make/Time is a project of CraftSchools.us and is part of “The Craft School Experience” initiative that promotes the value of immersive, residential craft schools across the country. Each episode is available on the Penland website or by searching “maketime” on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are approximately 20 minutes long.

 

 

About CraftSchools.us
CraftSchools.us is a consortium of five U.S. craft schools promoting the craft school experience on a national scale. Through their efforts, they explore the values, communities and opportunities that join them as a movement of immersive, residential schools teaching a variety of craft disciplines. Members of CraftSchools.us include: Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Peters Valley School of Craft, and Pilchuck Glass School.

 

About Stuart Kestenbaum
Stuart Kestenbaum was the director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME from 1988 – 2015. He is the author of four books of poems, most recently Only Now and The View From Here, as well as brief essays on craft, community, and the creative process. Kestenbaum is an honorary fellow of the American Craft Council and is currently the Poet Laureate of the State of Maine. He has taught at Penland and was the school’s 2015 Andrew Glasgow Resident Writer.

 

 

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