Newspapers / Penland Line (Penland, N.C.) / June 1, 1994, edition 1 / Page 7
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Penland Line Jessie: Most of the time I worked up at the office, there was just three of us. Bonnie Ford was the registrar, Linda Darty was Bill’s secretary, and then there was me. One time, toward the last of my working, it was brought up in the board meeting that we were to list all our jobs in the office. And we said there was just no way we could list them and they’d ever believe all the things we did. We sold stamps, took care of the Coke machines, did registration, made deposits and trips to the bank, carried mail, took care of the gift shop and the school store during Concentration, ordered supplies for the store and for the instructors. But I never complained; the work was just a part of my life. Jessie: After 53 years of work, I retired in September of 1983.1 was given a big retirement party. All the craftsmen Were there with covered dishes. Linda had each one make a special square for a friendship quilt for me. Lots of men niade their own squares. All of this was a complete surprise to me, making tears come to my eyes. Floss: It’s hard to believe the way the school has contin ued, developed, and progressed. It’s because they have something there that’s more than crafts. Once, at the end of a class, a woman told me that if she hadn’t learned one thing about crafts it wouldn’t have mattered—that she just needed to be here. She had lost her husband and was grieving, and she found some kind of peace being in that class. Lots of people say that. In fact, I think that’s the main thing; it’s more important than the crafts. Penland gives people something that you just can’t put your finger on. But it’s something that they need. -Robin Dreyer B ctty Morgan in the Metals shop NEW TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS FOR SURFACE DESIGNERS Penland’s professional-level master class in surface design (June 27-July 8) was a blockbuster. The class teachers were Jason Pollen, who is an artist and designer for industry, a professor at Kansas City Art Institute, and the president of the Surface Design Association, and Joy Boutrup, a textile engineer who teaches at the Danmarks Designskole in Denmark. The session also included a visit by author and textiles scholar, Sigrid Wortmann Weltge. The class, which attracted a steady stream of visitors, focused on innovative and revolutionary ways of using dyes, tools, and techniques that represent a fresh approach to this field. Jason chose to present these new concepts at Penland because, he says, his classes here have always exceeded his expectations. In evaluating the session, he gave credit to his teaching partner. “This class is going to change everything for us,’’ he said, “and it’s all because ofjoy. It is so rare to find a person with her industrial background who can communicate with people like us....She is giving us the tools that we needed—only we didn’t know we needed them, because we didn’t know that they existed.” Special guest lecturer Sigrid Wortmann Weltge is an associate professor at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. She is the author of Woman’s Work, which traces the history of the Weaving Workshop at the Bauhaus, the German art school considered the most important institution in the history of modern design. The Weaving Workshop was the longest lived and most successful of the Bauhaus workshops, and it was almost entirely run by women. Sigrid’s book is the first thorough study of the influence these women had on textile design and manufacturing. In addition to spending time with the master-class students, Sigrid presented a formal lecture to the whole school on the subject of the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop. The invitation to Sigrid was timed to coincide with this master class and Janet Taylor's weaving class because of many parallels between the Bauhaus workshops and Penland. The Bauhaus weavers were craftspeople who had a strong influence on industry, and this master-class grew out of an interest in fostering that kind of connection here at Penland. SPRING COLORS BLOOMED IN TEXTILE CONCENTRATION The coming of spring usually brings an explosion of color, particularly at Penland. But this year the explosion came early in the surface design studio. This was the first Concentration in surface design in many years, and color was the theme set by the instructor. Carmen Grier, who is known for her brightly colored scarves, rugs, pillows, and wall pieces. The work started with dying techniques using many forms of resist, then proceeded to dis charging, overdying, block printing, and silk-screening. The colors became more complex as students learned to combine these many techniques to build up color and pattern in their cloth. During the fourth week, visiting quilt artist Jane Burt Cocharan offered a five- day workshop. The vivid colored cloth produced earlier was cut and pieced, then stitched, beaded, and embellished. Each student contributed a pieced section for a larger quilt which was assembled by Jane and then donated to the scholarship auc tion where it brought a good price. The second half of the session started with students designing larger scale projects incorporating their new techniques and tools. The second visiting artist, Lee Malerich, came in the sixth week and the focus of her visit was contemporary stitchery techniques. Gregg Johnson Carmen Grier's class during Spring Concentration
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