Photos this page by Robin Dreyer except where noted.
nr Penland Line Spring 2002
Michelle Francis at the archive.
REPORT FROM THE ARCHIVE
Evening slide presentations are as much a part of Penland ses
sions as the students and instructors themselves. Penland’s first
slide program probably made its debut the summer of 1932
during the third Weaving Institute conducted by Edward F.
Worst. Bonnie Ford Willis reported in the April, 1933 issue of
The Handicrafter magazine of the evening program of “lantern
slides, depicting the work of the Penland Weavers and Potters,
and the life of the people which this work touches.”These frag
ile glass slides and their original script have survived the rav
ages of time and are now preserved in the Jane Kessler
Memorial Archives housed in Ridgeway Hall. For the first time
in Penland’s history, the school’s collection of historic pho
tographs, letters, board minutes, session catalogs, school pub
lications and other materials have been brought together in a
secure, climate controlled space.
This past June, Michelle Francis was contracted as project
archivist to organize and catalog Penland’s archives. Michelle
comes to this two-year project with a deep appreciation of
crafts and almost 30 years as a professional archivist. She has
been serving as a consultant to Penland’s Archives Committee
since 1996. Penland Resident artist Ann Marie Kennedy assists
Michelle four hours a week processing such records as the res
ident artist and core program files.
Eventually, the records will be cataloged and accessible
through a computer database that will allow access to all parts
of the collection through date, subject, or name entries. This
system of electronic cataloging will provide craft historians,
Penland staff, and others with access to information about
Penland’s role in the revival of craft in the early 20th century
and its evolution into the 2ist. The archives contain not just
Penland’s history—the “old stuff”—but also information that is
administratively useful as Penland staff seeks grant funding,
prepares for its yj^th anniversary in 2004, and develops strate
gic plans that both honor and expand Lucy Morgan’s original
vision for the school.
Many of the items in the archives exist today because past
members of the staff, the board of trustees, and community
residents recognized their historic value and preserved these
items in their homes. We are hopeful that others will donate
Penland-related materials to the archives and help fill in the
gaps that exist in the collection. We know, for example, that
many early records were lost in 1941 when the original Pines
was destroyed by fire. In addition to organizing and cataloging
the current collection, Michelle will implement a records
management program which wdll allow for the periodic trans
fer of non-current records from the offices of Penland’s staff to
the archives. This will insure Penland’s current history-in-the-
making will be fully documented. If you have items you would
like to donate to the archives contact the Penland office or
Michelle Francis at archives@penland.org.
John Payne, an artist from Asheville, NC, was here last sum
mer taking Hoss Haley’s iron class. He brought along with him
one of his operable mechanical dinosaur skeletons. The beast
stands inside a steel frame and is operated by two cables and a
system of pulleys. John set it up in front of the Lily Loom
House and it kept us entertained for days.
While waiting for the kiln to get hot enough for salting,
ceramist and raconteur extraordinaire Jeff Shapiro held a large
audience rapt as he told an intricate tale of his experience as a
potter in Japan.
Why is this man smiling? Because his friends got together and
threw him a big birthday party which culminated with the gift
he had always wanted; a summer class at Penland. Bruce
Anderson, a carpenter and woodworker from Chapel Hill,
NC, is shown here with the legs of his almost completed table
during Richard Prisco’s furniture-making workshop.
Scrapbook 2001
July 4 is always a fun day at Penland. This time, however it
poured rain all afternoon. At 6:oo, when the weather showed
no sign of abating and the Internet was promising many more
hours of storm, we called off the parade and promised to do it
the next day. Naturally, it quit raining fifteen minutes later. So
we declared the festivities back on with the parade starting as
soon as it could be assembled. Couriers spread the news and a
fine parade was staged, including this carefully choreographed
(thanks, Rory) flag brigade made up of Piper Shepard’s surface
design students. The parade was followed by the first ever
Downhill Derby (see page 12).
1
This shrine to one of the lesser known saints, Encaustica,
presided over Crit Streed’s encaustic painting workshop. She
did a fine job of looking after things.
Filling one corner of Northlight during the 2001 Core Show
was this 16-foot segmented ceramic worm made by Ronao
Peterson. The worm is made of 30 sections plus the head and
the tale. Incredibly, almost no one knew he was working on it-
Then again, each piece is pretty small.
JBWt .V
They never believe us. You just can’t drive a tour bus out of the
Penland Gallery and turn right. This will happen every time.