paul briggs – The Penland Sketchbook

We did it! The 37th Annual Penland Benefit Auction is a wrap!

We are proud to say that our biggest fundraiser of the year was a great success! Keep scrolling to see a slideshow of the fun!

We celebrated craft.

The 37th Annual Penland Benefit Auction was a wealth of riches. It is an honor to connect the superb work of contemporary makers with thoughtful, enthusiastic collectors and supporters of craft.

We raised important funds.

The Penland Auction is our most important fundraiser of the year, supporting our mission of making lives meaningful through making.

Here are some preliminary numbers we are excited to share:

$394,959.65 has been raised for Penland!
We exceeded our Fund-A-Need goal, raising $105,500.

In honor of the United Nations International Year of Glass, this year’s “Fund-A-Need” will fund an upgrade of Penland’s ventilation systems in its glass hot shop and flameworking studios. Thank you so much to everyone who donated!

We honored special folks.

Nancy Blum, David Chatt, Paul S. Briggs, and Mark Peiser were honored at this year’s auction. We are so proud to have had the opportunity to highlight their work! We will be sharing some of the kind words spoken about Mark Peiser with you soon.

We had so much fun!

What a pleasure it was to host our friends on campus last weekend, reconnecting with you in person! Thank you for sharing with us! Please enjoy the slideshow below:

Thank You!

Hundreds of people and organizations come together to create the Penland Benefit Auction. It is a huge undertaking and a labor of love. Thank you so much to everyone who gave of themselves to make it a great success! Thank you…

A ceramic vessel by Paul Briggs — Paul S. Briggs, Whorl, Windflower (Geode Series), glazed stoneware, 10 x 8 x 8 inches

Paul S. Briggs, who is one of the featured artists at the 2022 Penland Benefit Auction, has built his ceramic practice around two processes: pinch-formed vessels and slab-built sculptures. “Pinch-forming is what I do to meditate,” he says, “slab building is what I do to think through ideas.” The work featured in this year’s auction is one of his distinctive pinched vessels. “My pinching process,” he explains, “is neither additive nor subtractive but expansive. I grow the form from one chunk of clay using the pinching method to open the chunk and expand it outward and upward.”

Paul’s work has been in numerous exhibitions including Lucy Lacoste Gallery in Concord, Massachusetts, Friedman Benda Gallery in New York City, and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and is found in museum collections including the Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts, the Columbus Art Museum in Ohio, the Legacy Museum in Alabama, the San Angelo Museum of Art in Texas, the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

He has studied educational theory and policy, art education, theology, sculpture, and ceramics. “After a circuitous and fortuitous journey,” he says,“I am an artist-teacher at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.” He has also taught ceramics at Penland, Anderson Ranch, St. Olaf University, and Harvard University.

To learn more about Paul and see more of his work, please watch the video below (videographer: Darren Cole), or visit his website (but watch the video first).

Penland’s Annual Benefit Auction takes place on August 26-27, 2002 with online bidding on some pieces continuing through September 2. Paul’s work will be sold in the live auction on August 27; absentee bidding is available. Complete auction information here.

The Penland Auction Was a Great Success!