Penland LineCT
Summer—It's Not Too Late
It’s going to be another great summer at Penland and you can
still be a part of it. We are almost 90 percent enrolled, but
there are classes with openings in every studio. Seventh Session
(August 27 — September 2) is especially interesting this year
with a number of classes aimed at experienced students. This
promises to be an exciting time full of great work, great ideas,
and great conversation.
Still open for that session are clay classes
taught by master ceramists Don Reitz and
Robert Turner. Paul Stankard will teach an
advance flameworking class and iron artist
Brent Kington will focus on aesthetic con
cerns in blacksmithing. Ramona Solberg’s
metals class will focus on concepts and tech
niques for incorporating cultural artifacts into
fine jewelry. Fiber artist Diane Sheehan will
approach the woven structure as a pliable Diane Sheehan
plane for the expression
of ideas. Kenneth
Kerslake will work with a
number of printmaking
techniques during that
session, and critic A.D.
Coleman will offer a
course in critical writing
(see page 4).
Looking at the rest of
the summer there are still plenty of classes to choose from.
Some of those listed here have only one space open at this
time, so call soon if you are interested.
Clay classes include David MacDonald’s throwing class and
Will Hinton’s workshop which will translate narrative ideas
from drawing to vessel to mosaic tiles. Malcolm Davis will
teach a class exploring shino glazes on porcelain and potter
Winnie Owens-Hart will teach the traditional clay techniques
of Nigeria.
Ramona Solberg
Bill Brown, Jr. returns to the iron studio for a sculpture
class and Glen Gardner will repeat his very successful work
shop on copper weather vane construction. Joseph Miller’s
iron class will focus on natural forms, especially life-size ani
mals. In the metals studio, Joe Muench will teach metalsmiths
to make their own tools, including a set of European-style
chasing tools. David and Roberta
Williamson’s jewelry* class will cover
a variety of fabrication and decoration
techniques. Marjorie Simon wdll
unleash slash-and-burn color using
torch-fired enamels on copper.
Fiber artists Susan Brandeis and
Christine Zoller will team teach a
class using two studios and combining
surface design with weaving to create
an exciting, experimental approach to
textiles. Edwina Bringle will
teach a number of weaving tech
niques for students of all levels,
and Tim Veness will focus on the
design of wearable handwoven
fabrics in a class that also includes
sewing and garment construc
tion. Weavers Heather Allen and
Liz Spear will cover all aspects of
rag rug weaving including surface
design.
We have a number of classes
with a sculpture emphasis this
summer including two in the paper studio:Therese Zemlin and
artist/poet Betty Oliver will both teach paper classes focusing
on three-dimensional work. It’s a good year for large-scale
glass as Paul Marioni and Ann Troutner lead a class in architec
tural glciss and Rick Beck, the man who makes human-size nuts
and bolts, will teach glass casting and fabricating.
Up in the photo studio you can .still sign up for a class in pin
hole and zone plate photography taught by Pinhole Journal pub
lishers Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer, and an unusual class,
taught by Jeff Goodman, which will explore the physics of
photography in addition to covering a range of techniques
(3-D glasses may be involved).
Woodworkers might still be able to get a spot in a class on
boxes and containers taught by Stephen Proctor, a class in
unconventional furniture construction led by Sara Coleman, or
a class in site-specific wood projects (not neces.sarily sculpture)
with sculptor and architect Bob Leverich.
The list of open glasses changes daily, and cancellations
may open spaces in classes not listed here. A complete list of
openings is updated every few weeks on our web site:
www.penland.org. Most of these classes welcome serious stu
dents of all skill levels, but a few require some previous expe
rience. For complete details, see our summer catalog, our web
site, or call 828-763^-23^9.
Fall
Joseph Miller
Maybe this is the year for you to participate in the most
extended studio workshop program in craft education: the
Penland Concentration. As we go to press we are assembling
the last few components of the fall program; you can expect a
flyer with complete information by early summer.
What’s for sure is that fall Concentration runs from
September 24 — November 17, 2000. We’ll be offering classes
in books with Dan Essig, clay with Jane Shellenbarger, iron
with Alice James and Japheth Howard, surface design with
Carmen Grier, wood with Michael Puryear, flameworking
with Sally Prasch, and hot glass to be announced. Flyers avail
able in early summer. Complete information will also be avail
able on our web site: www.penland.org.
A Chance Encounter
A chance encounter, a sense’of trust, an untimely death, the generosity of a friend: these are the
ingredients which led to the creation of the Michael Hooker Memorial Endowment Fund for the
Penland School of Crafts.
Kenny Pieper, Penland’s glass studio coordinator, was blowing glass when two visitors,
Penland Trustee Bill Massey and his friend UNC Chancellor Michael Hooker, stopped by the stu
dio. Although he’s always friendly, Kenny normally can’t interrupt his work at the furnace, but he
was having a tough day and was ready for a break. Soon he was engaged in conversation with his
visitors about glass, about life, about transformation. “There was such a sense of trust developed,”
Kenny said of the conversation, “that to my astonishment I found myself telling them my whole
life story.” Kenny’s training in glass began at Penland and, hearing his story, Michael was
impressed that the school could offer such a viable educational alternative to young artists. The
conversation then moved on to the art and craft of glass. He asked Kenny questions about every
facet of every step in the process of glassblowing. Bill Massey has an indelible memory of this
deep conversation, “the calmness and gentle understanding which passed between them allowed
Michael, again a child, to start a voyage of discovery in fine craft. Kenny’s unassuming manner
and genuineness of character made it only natural that he and Michael would find common cause
in glass: one as the creator, one as the curious admirer.”
When Michael died one year after this encounter. Bill chose to honor him by establishing an
endowment for the position of coordinator in the glass studio—the first position at Penland to
receive this kind of ongoing support. The endow'ment is lodged with the North Carolina
Community Foundation because Bill felt “The egalitarian spirit and respect for the common man
embodied in the North Carolina Community Foundation are what is best about North Carolina.”
In addition to honoring a friend, this endowment highlights the studio coordinator position, an
essential but little,understood part of the program administration at Penland. Like Kenny, all stu
dio coordinators are professional craft artists who carry substantial administrative responsibilities
in addition to the technical and creative information and insights they bring to the work of each
studio.
Kenny is responsible for budgeting, working with Dana Moore on programming in glass, con
tacting instructors to meet their needs, working with studio assi.stants to be sure they know how
all the equipment works, keeping equipment in good repair, and assisting with the purchase of
new equipment. In short, the smooth functioning of the studio is the responsibility of the coordi
nator. And, in Kenny’s case, his warm welcome to visitors has made ^lasting impact.
A feature article in the
foundation’s newsletter elicited
an additional gift from Lewis
R. Holding, and Bill encourages
all who knew of Chancellor
Hooker’s passion for glass to
add to this fund. For further
information, please contact
Cherry Ballard, the founda
tion’s donor relations officer at
(800) 201-9333.
—Donna Jean Dreyer Studio Coordinator Kenny Pieper.