Iron

Iron Workshops at Penland

Penland offers intensive workshops of varying lengths, taught by visiting instructors in our well-equipped studios. Class topics include traditional blacksmithing, forging and forming steel and iron, metal sculpture, working with found metal, finishing techniques, and more. Workshops are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.

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  • Please read this note about our session schedules.
Iron – Spring Concentration
March 2 – April 25, 2025 (8 Weeks)
Erica Moody
Balancing the Spoon:
Metal Craft and Studio Practice

With utensil making as the framework, students will learn the foundations of mid-sized metalsmithing and will explore how our craft can foster play and awareness of our surroundings. Through demonstrations and experimentation (with optional prompts), students will design and realize their own eating and/or serving utensils, which may be entirely practical or purely sculptural. We will work with raw materials and repurposed utensils, consider individual as well as batch production, collaborate, and discuss balancing life and a craft business. Using mostly brass, copper, and steel, instruction will include cold and hot forming (forging, sanding, cutting, sinking; hand hammering only), cold and hot connections (riveting, wrapping, silver soldering/brazing), finishing (sanding, hand filing/white smithing, texturing, coloring, burnishing), and combining different materials (wood, bone, scrap metal, etc.). The workshop aims to use this nice, long time frame to both upset and balance our practices as we inspire and support each other. All levels. 

Studio artist crafting serving utensils and custom hardware; teaching: Peters Valley (NJ), Haystack (ME), Center for Metal Arts (PA), Pocosin (NC), Center for Furniture Craftsmanship (ME), Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design (MA); 2023 Maine Arts Fellowship; short-term residencies: Penland, Haystack. 

ericamoody.com | @ericaemoody

Regular enrollment begins November 15.

 

Erica Moody, Pressed Brass Moon and Ring Utensils, brass, charred maple, 12 inches long
Erica Moody, Pressed Brass Moon and Ring Utensils, brass, charred maple, 12 inches long
moody-portrait
Iron – Spring Short Session
April 27 – May 2, 2025 (4 studio days)
Hoss Haley
The Everyday Shelf

This workshop will focus on designing and fabricating metal shelves to hold the items one carries with them on a daily basis: phone, keys, glasses, etc. We will begin with demonstrations and explanations of a range of cold-connection techniques: tabs, screws, and rivets. Students will then work through the design process using paper and cardboard. The last two days will be devoted to cold-forming through cutting, bending, and shaping the sheet metal followed by final assembly and surface treatments. All levels. 

Studio artist; teaching: Haystack (ME), Penland; major public art commissions in Asheville (NC), Charlotte (NC), Richmond (VA), Atlanta, Western Carolina University (NC), North Carolina State University, Tennessee Tech University; collections: Asheville Art Museum (NC), North Carolina Museum of Art, Mint Museum (NC), Bechtler Museum of Art (NC), Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, John Michael Kohler Art Center (WI).

hosshaley.com | @hosshaley

Regular enrollment begins November 15.

Hoss Haley, Everyday Shelf, steel, paint
Hoss Haley, Everyday Shelf, steel, paint
Photo by Myles Pettengill