I’m up at the wood kiln if you guys want to meet…
said core fellow Will Lentz’s email. So we caught up with Will and the winter clay residents outside, joyfully unloading the kiln on a cold sunny day back in February. A long table was set out for the bounty.
Fast forward (about the length of three snows) when Will and I met to talk about the winter, which he spent–in part–working for former core fellow Jason Bige Burnett in Burnett’s Bakersville studio. Jason, Will noted, had been giving Will assignments, infusing Will’s winter with another space for intention and exploration. In particular, Will had been ruminating on box forms he’s been making–an opportunity for “release from the surface,” new design, and interconnectivity.
But Will’s winter wasn’t all about the box–he also dipped into vigorous making, testing out the possibility of producing a line of shapely ceramic mugs with a racer stripe. Café racers. As Will raced to unload the wood kiln, he chatted with the winter residents, thoroughly enjoying objects in the light.
Top photograph by Robin Dreyer. Photograph of mugs from Will Lentz’s Instagram account. Writing by Elaine Bleakney.
Eleanor Annand grew up on the southern tip of the coast of North Carolina. She received her Bachelors of Graphic Design from North Carolina State University where she focused on typography and letterpress. After a range of design and letterpress experience from IBM to Yee-Haw Industries, between North Carolina and Colorado, she landed in the Core Fellowship program at Penland School of Crafts. In the Core program Eleanor investigated printed, drawn, carved, and painted lines on paper, metal and enamel. In 2012 she relocated to Asheville, NC where works as an artist and designer. Her work is on display at Blue Spiral 1 Gallery in Asheville and Light Art + Design in Chapel Hill, NC.
