Posted on April 16, 2018April 19, 2018 by Penland

Kalamkari

Some things just never get old, like the power of a good story or the draw of color and pattern. This helps to explain the enduring appeal of kalamkari, an intricate process of decorating and dying cloth that has been practiced in India and Iran for over 2,000 years.

This summer, we are thrilled to bring kalamkari to the Penland studios in a session 1 textiles workshop taught by Indian artist Lavanya Mani. What’s most exciting, perhaps, is the wide-ranging appeal of a process that seems quite specific at the outset. For weavers and natural dyers, there will be deep exploration of mordants, tannins, and natural dyes like madder and indigo and new insights into how to layer and combine them to create a vivid and expansive palette. For painters and storytellers, there will be the opportunity to use cloth as canvas and bring narrative to life through brush, block, and color. And for process nerds and material enthusiasts, there will certainly be new techniques to master and refine as Lavanya reveals the important sequence of steps used to build up a kalamkari cloth.

If kalamkari doesn’t sound familiar, then perhaps chintz does. The refined floral prints of chintz fabric that rose to such popularity in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries started as kalamkari imported from India. But the process itself can be used to achieve a much wider array of results. Take Lavanya’s own work as an example: her pieces are much closer to paintings, saturated with color and thoughtful details rendered in an expressive hand. Many draw on themes from literature or Indian history to build insightful narratives that speak to power dynamics, the experience of womanhood, and more.

Kalamkari piece by Lavanya Mani — Lavanya Mani, “Signs Taken for Wonders,” natural dye and appliqué on cotton fabric, 9 x 11 feet

In her piece “The Emperor’s New Machine,” Lavanya sets up a Vaudeville-esque theater of saturated curtains and trimmings and places the sewing machine at center stage. The work includes entertaining circus-like details, but it also speaks to India’s independence movement and the role the sewing machine played in enabling India’s people to produce their own garments without relying on British imports. Another piece, “Signs Taken for Wonders,” mixes colonial and Indian imagery amid the lush flora and fauna of the Indian landscape.

For artists who would like to tell their own stories in color and pattern on cloth, we invite you to join Lavanya in the studios May 27-June 8 for two weeks of intensive kalamkari exploration. Students can expect to make samples, create an extensive dye card, and produce kalamkari pieces of their own. They will leave with a complete toolbox of steps and techniques to continue their kalamkari practice at home.

See below for the complete course description for Lavanya’s Kalamkari workshop. Other open workshops during session 1 include:

Wood—Table Talk with Jason Schneider
Print—Symmetry-Fold Intaglio & Kite Making with Koichi Yamamoto
Letterpress—Freedom of the Press with David Wolfe
Hot Glass—Essential Shape with David Naito

REGISTER HERE

Kalamkari

Lavanya Mani, May 27-June 8
This workshop will explore kalamkari, a traditional Indian drawing, printing, and dyeing process once known famously as chintz. Through lecture-demonstrations and hands-on application, students will learn how kalamkari was made historically, how it is practiced today in various parts of India, and how it can be adapted for the contemporary studio. We’ll create strong, vivid colors using classic dye. We’ll cover fabric selection and the procedures and techniques for preparing fabric so it is receptive to the dye, including scouring, and pre-treatment with tannins and mordants. All levels. Code 01TA

Studio artist; exhibitions: solo at Chemould Prescott Road (Mumbai), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India), Galerie Pagoda (Paris), Pearl Lam Gallery (Shanghai).

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Penland

Now on View in the Penland Gallery

Tom Shields, “Mediation,” cast iron, 60 x 18 x 39 inches (photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center)

The year’s first exhibition at the Penland Gallery is a collection of work by artists who, in the words of gallery director Kathryn Gremley, “have erased dividing lines or untethered themselves from material and creative constraints.” Titled I dwell in Possibility after a poem by Emily Dickinson, the exhibition includes work in ceramic, glass, metal, painting, photography, printmaking, and wood with considerable mixing of media. The fifteen artists represented will be teaching workshops at Penland in 2018. The show runs through May 13.

Ruther Miller, “The Evocation and Capture of Aphrodite,” hand-embroidered wool on fabric, 36 x 30 inches

Walking into the exhibition, visitors will be greeted by a three-foot tall, precisely rendered image of a young woman—leaves and geometric shapes float by her in the foreground. The piece can easily be mistaken for a painting, but closer inspection reveals that it is made entirely from embroidery thread. The artist, Ruth Miller, spends about a year stitching one of these pieces.

Photographer Dan Estabrook is represented by a series of tintypes, which are images created on a metal plate. Although tintypes have traditionally been treated simply as a type of photograph, this artist has chosen to also approach them as metal objects. Using a jeweler’s saw, he carefully cuts up different tintypes and recombines them to create metal collages.

A cast-iron teapot by Frankie Flood, who is a faculty member at Appalachian State University, has a surface texture that looks like the inner surface of tree bark, while the surface of a wooden platter by Matthew Hebert has been carved into a 3D image of a manhole cover. And an animated video by Noah Saterstrom is accompanied by several of the paintings he used to create it. These are just some of the wonders and possibilities presented in this exhibition.

Also on view in the Focus Gallery is an exhibition titled GATHER | Eat, Drink, Enjoy, which showcases elegant, functional glassware by Courtney Dodd and Nickolaus Fruin. Together, the artists have formed “Shaker + Salt,” a line of exquisitely-executed plates, bowls, cups, and more that are meant to be shared, enjoyed, and laughed over at the table. The exhibition highlights these pieces as they might be used at a dinner party, complete with a fully set table and cocktail recipes to go with each set of glasses. Admire the entire arrangement, and then lean in close to catch the special details that set each piece apart.

Place setting from “GATHER” by Shaker + Salt

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Penland

Summer 2018 Workshop Catalog

Cover image; woman adjusts table saw in woodworking studio

Here it is, the summer 2018 workshop catalog! We’re thrilled to share our lineup with you in anticipation of another summer packed with creativity, energy, new friendships, and new ideas. We’re offering 102 unique workshops led by 116 talented artist/instructors, including favorites like encaustic painting and steel sculpture and special classes like brushmaking and skin-on-frame canoe building. Most workshops are open to serious students of all levels (beginners included!), and all give you access to the slide nights, dance parties, movement classes, scholarship auctions, and more that make a Penland session so special.

This year, summer registration will open to all students on January 8 at 9 AM EST on a first-come, first-served basis; we will not be using a lottery system. Applications may be submitted online, by fax, by post, or in person.

Scholarships are available for every summer workshop, including full, partial, and work-study scholarships. Spaces will be held in each workshop for scholarship students. Scholarship applications are due by 11:59 PM EST on February 17.

We hope you find a few minutes over the holidays to pour over the Penland catalog and find the perfect workshop for you, wherever you are in your creative journey. Look out for full course descriptions on the website by the end of December, with printed catalogs to follow in early January.