Books and Paper Workshops at Penland
Penland School of Craft offers workshops of varying lengths in the book arts and papermaking taught by visiting instructors in our well-equipped studios. Classes focus on topics including designing handmade books, papermaking, printing, and book binding. Workshops are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.
Register for Workshops
Workshops are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.
Please read this note about our session schedules.
Please read our COVID-19 Safety Guidelines document.
PAPERMAKING FALL CONCENTRATION
October 1 – November 10, 2023 (six weeks)
Amy Jacobs
Paper: From the Inside Out
Handmade paper has a special magic and a limitless range of surfaces, textures, colors, and forms; this workshop will be a thorough immersion in its possibilities. We’ll cover the preparation of cotton, abaca, linen rag, and flax pulps along with pigmenting and mixing. Other processes will include small and large sheet formation, pulp painting, stenciling, blow-outs, wet collage, embedding, watermarks, drying and finishing treatments, surface manipulation, and sculptural methods with high-shrinkage pulps. By the end of the session, students will understand handmade paper as a complete medium. All levels.
Master papermaker and senior director of artistic projects at Dieu Donné (NYC); teaching: Museum of Modern Art (NYC), University of the Arts (PA), New York Public Library (NYC), University of Georgia Cortona Program (Italy); residencies: Vermont Studio Center, Elizabeth Foundation SHIFT Residency (NYC), Penland Core Fellowship.
Regular enrollment will begin on May 1.
Papermaking – Spring Short Session
April 28 – May 3, 2024 (4 studio days)
SR Lejeune
What a Relief: Techniques for Pulp Casting
Using experimental casting processes rooted in hand papermaking techniques and the distinct properties of different fibers, students will learn to record dimension, texture, surface, and form with paper pulp. We’ll begin with basics such as fiber processing in the Hollander beater and sheet forming and then apply these skills to a variety casting methods, such as embossing with the hydraulic press and vacuum table; laminate-casting of objects with high-shrinkage fibers; and packing low-relief, miniature, and found moulds. Through material exploration, this experimental workshop will emphasize the unique possibilities of various paper pulps as casting media. We’ll cover ways of working applicable to both professional and improvisational studio contexts. All levels.
Studio artist; MFA in sculpture from Yale School of Art (CT); former Penland core fellow; teaching: Women’s Studio Workshop (NY), Dieu Donné (NYC); solo exhibitions: AS220 Reading Room (RI), Sculpture Center (Cleveland), Green Galleries at Yale School of Art (CT).
Scholarship application deadline is August 15.
Regular enrollment begins October 2.
