Tag: penland school of craft

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Traditional Yoruba Dyeing Techniques with Indigo

Students hang recently dyed work to dry on a beautiful day

Gasali Adeyemo taught us so much during a recent workshop in the Penland textiles studio. Students in the textiles studio learned traditional Yoruba adire eleko (cassava-paste starch-resist) and tie-dye techniques and how to prepare an indigo vat.

Penland Core Fellow Nicholas McDonald with instructor Gasali Adeyemo

The class experimented with intricate patterns and learned about the history and meanings behind the traditional designs.

Students remove the cassava-paste starch-resist after dyeing with indigo, with help from instructor Gasali Adeyemo.

Gasali has been learning and teaching traditional dyeing techniques for over 30 years. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico and travels frequently, sharing sharing the arts and culture of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. You can find his work HERE.

A special T-shirt comes out of the indigo vat!

Want to take a textiles workshop at Penland? Find our upcoming workshops HERE.

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Poetic Portraits with Richard Tuschman

During our spring short session, Richard Tuschman led a wonderful photography workshop in the Penland photo studio. Lasting four days, the workshop produced some astounding results. The weather was perfect and many of the students in the workshop made perfect subjects.

Students of all ages and levels explored expressive elements of composition, color, gesture, environment, and both studio and natural lighting.

A fine art photographer, Richard Tuschman focuses on creating cinematic, open-ended photographic narratives that explore the complexities and emotional nuances of human relationships.

Want to take a photography workshop at Penland? Check out our upcoming workshops HERE.

We hope you enjoy this visual feast of some of the work produced during the workshop:

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The Core Show 2021

This post starts with a slide show. If you are seeing it as in e-mail, please click here for best viewing.

The core show is a highlight of each Penland year.
The evening begins with a beautiful dinner cooked by friends of the core fellows.
Program coordinator Courtney Dodd paying tribute to each of the core fellows.
Sarina Angell; Collector's Jacket; toned cyanotype on cotton canvas
Molly Bernstein; A Map of the World; ceramic material
Mia Kaplan; Bullseye Ring; brass, copper, silver, magnets
Maria Fernanda Nuñez Alzata; What if we kissed in the crack of a kernel; cast denim, abaca, and corn husk fiber, 18k gold leaf, graphite
SaraBeth Post; Symbol to Play II; cast glass
Tony Santoyo; Roadmap; acrylic, handmade abaca and cotton on canvas
Erika Schuetz; Corkybara 1 &2; cork, leather
H. Mitsu Shimabukuro; Hypotaxis; hand-pulled sheet of paper with blowout stencil, cotton, abaca, and denim fibers
The core fellows in the gallery.
Core Show Card
Core Show Card

A highlight of every year at Penland (except 2020, because…) is the core show: an exhibition of carefully selected work made during the year by our wonderful core fellows. The evening starts with a beautiful, quiet dinner made by their friends. This is followed by a reception and moment for honoring each of these hardworking artists. This year’s exhibition was in Gallery North, which is part of the Northlight complex.

The Penland Core Fellowship is a two-year work-study residency that has brought generations of hard-working, dedicated artists into the Penland family–taking workshops, covering important work assignments, and inspiring everyone around them. We are also delighted to say that many core fellows continue to have a long-term relationship with the school after their fellowship comes to an end. We are always delighted to welcome them back as instructors, staff members, and in other roles.

Thank you, Erica, Mia, Mitsu, Mo, Molly, SaraBeth, Sarina, Tony, and Scott (who left for grad school before this event) for everything you have brought to Penland. Because everything was canceled in 2020, we got to keep this group for an extra year, and it’s getting hard to imagine the place without them!