Annie Evelyn – Page 2 – The Penland Sketchbook

Four artists have been selected as Penland resident artists who will live and work in Penland’s close-knit community for the next three years. The incoming artists will arrive in September, 2014 and join returning Penland resident artists Micah Evans, Dustin Farnsworth, and Rachel Meginnes. They include:

Annie Evelyn

annieevelyn Annie Evelyn received her BFA and MFA in furniture design at the Rhode Island School of Design. She has taught classes in furniture design, woodworking, and upholstery at The New School (NY), Anderson Ranch, RISD, Penland, and others. A recipient of the Windgate Fellowship in 2010, Annie spent a year as an artist in residence at Indiana University Center for Turning and Furniture Design. Her work has been shown throughout the US and abroad, most recently at the 2013 International Contemporary Furniture Fair. From 2010 to 2011, she worked in New Orleans as set decorator, assistant casting director, and associate producer on the award-winning film Beasts of the Southern Wild, all the while maintaining New Colony Furniture, her design/build business specializing in furniture design and upholstery.

As a Penland resident artist, Annie wants to regain the experimental and conceptual side of her process, something that has been sidelined by the practicalities of making a living as a designer. She hopes three years of studio exploration will help her “establish a way of working and a way of life where [art and design] are working together, informing and strengthening each other.” Annie will relocate to Penland from Brooklyn, New York.

Andrew Hayes

andrewhayes Andrew Hayes studied art at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and arrived at Penland as a core fellow in 2007. For four years during and following his core fellowship, Andrew worked as a studio assistant to former Penland resident artist Hoss Haley, while beginning to exhibit his altered books throughout the US. In 2013, Andrew established his own studio in Asheville, NC, and began work as a full-time artist. He is now represented by galleries in California, Oregon, North Carolina, Ohio, and Canada. In 2012, Andrew was an Emerging Artist Spotlight presenter at the national Society of North American Goldsmiths conference.

Andrew’s residency at Penland comes at a pivotal moment as he develops new work, new professional relationships, and new markets. About his continued connection to Penland, Andrew says: “Penland has shaped my life as an artist. I am eternally grateful for all the breakthroughs and positive experiences I’ve received directly or indirectly through the school… I want to give back to the community that has supported me in countless ways.” More about Andrew and his work can be found on his website.

Mercedes Jelinek

mercedesjelinek Mercedes Jelinek earned a BFA from SUNY Purchase in 2007 and an MFA from Louisiana State University in 2012. Her work has been shown nationally and has recently been included in exhibits at the Ogden Museum (Louisiana) and Cuchifritos Gallery (NYC). Mercedes has built a freelance career working in several genres of commercial photography— architecture, fashion, events, and journalism. She is one of the first photographers to be granted access to the top of the new World Trade Center building, and is currently photographing its final construction. Mercedes has taught in several universities and photo centers, run professional and community photo studios, and assisted several elite photographers.

As a Penland resident artist, Mercedes hopes to continue a neighborhood photo booth portrait project with individuals from the Penland community, and challenge her work through increased scale and research into non-toxic photo processes. She will be moving to Penland from Brooklyn, New York. Her work can be viewed on her website.

Jaydan Moore

jaydanmoore Jaydan Moore earned his BFA in jewelry/metal arts from California College of the Arts in 2008 and an MA and MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2011 and 2012. He has taught at several esteemed metals programs throughout the country and has studied under and/or assisted master metalsmiths including Richard Mawdsley, Fred Fenster, Bob Coogan, and Marilyn da Silva. Jaydan was a university fellow at UW/Madison in 2009; a resident artist at the Houston Contemporary Craft Center in 2012; and is currently the Fountainhead Fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Craft and Material Studies. He is also teaching in the metals department at VCU.

Through the Penland Resident Artist program Jaydan will dedicate three years to his own studio work in complement to his established academic teaching path. View Jaydan’s work and learn more on his website.

For more information about the Penland resident artist program, please click here.

“I don’t draw something and then go find a pile of wood and build it.
I find the pile of wood, respond to that pile of wood,
and then make something based on what’s there.”
—Tom Shields

Found wood and one’s attention to it as inspiration for design will be at the core of Penland resident artist Tom Shields’s spring woodworking workshop. “Patinas, nail holes, rot in an old piece of wood–all of these can be springboards into what gets made,” says Tom.

Along with covering traditional woodworking techniques, the eight-week workshop will veer to embrace the nontraditional. Conversations about idea and content will be generated by activity in the workshop. For example, the first project: Shields’s students will all be asked to bring a loved object with them to Penland. Then, they will create a cabinet for the object. The function and design of the cabinet will be up to the maker: would you build something to hide, display, or protect your object?

Tom Shields, Same on the Inside, railroad tie, cherry, 11 x 8 x 38 inches — Tom Shields, Same on the Inside, railroad tie,
cherry, 11 x 8 x 38 inches

Tom Shields – Make Do with What You Have, Take What You Can Get

March 9-May 2, 2014

In the wood studio

Want to learn woodworking while giving new life to discarded wood? We’ll spend time learning where to find recycled wood: the dump, junk stores, dumpsters, the woods. Then we’ll make sculptural, functional, and furniture pieces from any kind of wood object, applying traditional woodworking techniques and joinery to nontraditional materials. We’ll also use some new lumber to fabricate elements as needed. Both hand and power tools will be used as we incorporate woodworking and trash into the same vocabulary. The workshop will also cover sharpening, the proper use of tools, and safety. All levels.

To find out more and register for this workshop click here.
Spring scholarship deadline is November 29.
Please note: applications need to be at Penland by this date to be considered for scholarship. Overnight service may not deliver to Penland’s campus on time, please plan accordingly.

Making something with what’s available in the world–and wholly rejecting the capitalist enterprise that tries to commodify it–was intrinsic to the punk movement of the 1970s and 80s and to Tom Shields’s own emergence in craft. Punk’s restless creative ethos is part of his philosophy of teaching today–with an emphasis on an open invitation to anyone to take and make, dispelling the cliché of “punk” as a closed zone of angst or aggression.

Tom Shields’s students will take their own DIY impulse into time and materials, while also picking up some incomparable experiences. Timber framer Raivo Vihman will be the studio assistant–he’ll be demonstrating large-scale timber framing and joinery. Annie Evelyn will also visit to demonstrate techniques in upholstery. Bob Biddlestone will cover router jigs, fixtures, and talk about applying woodworking techniques to other materials.

“I definitely like to teach people how to do just about everything with as little as possible. If you have a chisel, a block plane, a hand drill, and a Japanese saw, you can build just about anything.”

Tom Shields is a resident artist at Penland School of Crafts. He has taught previously at Penland and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. His exhibitions include Blue Spiral 1 (NC) and the North Carolina Museum of Art. His work is part of collections at Decordova Museum (MA), Gregg Museum (NC), University of Arkansas, and the North Carolina Museum of Art, among others.

Introducing Penland’s 2014-2017 Resident Artists

Make Do with What You Have, Take What You Can Get: Woodworking with Tom Shields