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CT Penland Line Winter 2003
Robin Drejer
Old or new? Penland has several new signs to help first-time visitors
find their way around. The top section oj this sign (and of several oj
the others) was carefully copied from one of the old signs that were
located at either end of Penland Road. The new ones were made by
George Pittman whose uncle made the originals
PENLAND LINE
Editor/Writer: Robin Dreyer
Layout: Robin Dreyer, Leslie NoelL Kristi Pfeffer
Photographs: Robin Dreyer, Dana Moore
Contributors: Barbara Benisch, Donna Jean Dreyer, Leslie Noell, Lucinda
Pittman, Deborah Luster, Jean McLaughlin
Thanks to Barbara Benisch, Dana Moore, Jean McLaughlin, and Tammy
Hitchcock for their help with this issue.
Penland School of Crafts is a national center for craft education located in
western North Carolina. The school offers classes in ten media, artists' resi
dencies, a community education program, and a craft gallery open to the
public. The Penland Line is published twice a year to communicate
thoughts about the programs, people, and philosophy of Penland. We
invite you to share your news, opinions, and/or photographs with us.
E-mail: publicatians@penland. org
Penland School of Crafts
P. 0. Box 37
Penland, NC 28765-0037
828-765-2359
fax: 828-765-7389
e-mail: office@penland.org
website: www.penland.org
Penland School of Crafts is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organiza
tion. Penland receives support for its programs from the North Carolina
Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the
National Endowment for the Arts.
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NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT
FOR THE ARTS
Letter From the Director
Snow has come to Penland several times already this winter—
usually in giant flakes, sometimes briefly, sometimes for hours.
It doesn’t stay with us for long, but it seems to create extra
time to pause, to smile, to walk with care. It’s been a good
winter for reflection.
This Penland Line opens with a story about families who
have shared Penland—at the same time and across the years.
The examples in this story stand in for many spouses, sisters,
brothers, parents, and children who find that Penland is a good
way to extend how they know each other. We could also have
written just as much about people who find or extend their
“families” here, as special bonds are made through sharing
classes, rooms, meals, quiet moments, and even pot washing in
the kitchen. It is always a joy to see unusual friendships emerge
between the many and varied people who find their way here.
I mentioned all this to potter Nick Joerling, who lives just
down the road, and he recalled his last time teaching at
Penland when his brother Michael was also teaching in the
wood studio, his brother David was the studio assistant in the
painting class, his sister-in-law Sarah was taking the papermak
ing class, and a number of the other instructors were long-time
friends. “Late in the session,” he said, “we threw ourselves an
elegant dinner at Long House—about sixteen people seated at
one long table, dressed up, with waiters and printed menus.”
We’ve seen a few new families created at Penland this year.
Many car loads made the trip to Raleigh in mid-summer to cel
ebrate the wedding of recent core student Meredith Brickell
and frequent student Ray Duffy. The cars ran in the other
direction this fall when Kara Ikenberry and Ronan Peterson
were married on the Penland knoll. Both Kara and Ronan have
been core students and staff members, and the Penland
Kitchen Alumni All-Star Team put on a memorable spread for
the reception. Maintenance man and horse wrangler Chuck
Nelson invited “the whole darn posse” to the knoll for his wed
ding to Angel Rannazzisi in October. It was a sight to behold as
they crested the hill riding horses in their wedding finery.
Also in this issue we note the passing of industrial designer
Sam Scherr, the beloved husband of metalsmith and long-time
Penland instructor Mary Ann Scherr. The Scherrs and their
children Randy, Sydney and Scott made Penland an important
part of their lives. Sam and the children sometimes visited
Mary Ann when she was teaching, and Sydney (also a metal
smith) has been an instructor here as well.
Last fall, 1 visited Sam’s studio, and on the wall was the fol
lowing quote, which Mary Ann said was his favorite;
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a
powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progres
sive narrowing of the personality and prevents
exploration and experimentation. There is no
learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If
you want to keep on learning, you must keep on
risking failure—all your life. —John W. Gardner.
This makes me think of the many ways every day that I, as a
student or as Penland’s director, hurdle some obstacle and
experience the thrill of exploration or the fear of stumbling; it
seems like an elegant description of why Penland exists: so that
people can keep on risking and learning throughout their lives.
The quote from John Gardner was also part of my conver
sation with Nick Joerling, and he sent me back a note, written
early one morning, ruminating on the relationship between
failure and exploration. I’ll share some his thoughts here.
“1 remember hearing the sculptor Jun Kaneko speak about
a realization in his life,” Nick wrote. “He said that for his first
fifteen years of working in clay, everytime he was about to
unload a kiln, he would wheel a dumpster up next to it and
most of what would come out he would immediately toss into
the trash. It took him fifteen years to see that he was tossing
away the best part of who he was, and discarding things that
were packed with valuable information. Because he was calling
them failures, he was blind to what they offered.
“It’s hard to think of the word failure without other
words—expectation, intention—attached to it. Those words
then evoke their opposites (or partners)—chance, surprise, the
unforeseen. At least the way we are using it (coming from the
Gardner quote) in an artistic context, failure seems to have
built into it a sense of endgaming, perhaps of ego and control.
“Artistically, instead of intention/expectation holding making
by the lapels, it’s better to have intention/expectation dancing
with making and being open to chance and surprise (reworded
from failure) cutting in. To rethink failure is to de-emphasize
control. It makes for a less military dance.”
Nick’s note concluded with this thought: “I’m also remind
ed, as 1 read the phrase ‘fear of failure in the Gardner quote, of
what I think was Paulus Berensohn s observation that within
the word fear is the word ear, meaning that there’s probably
much there to be listened to.”
So I want to thank Sam for his lifetime of experimenting
and exploring, Nick for his wise words, and each of vou for
being a part of the Penland family.
-JeanW. McLaughlin, Director
Friends andjamily gathered on the Penland knoll for the wedding oj Kara Ikenberry and Ronan Peterson. Kara has been a core student
housekeeping coordinator. Ronan has worked in the Penland kitchen and gallery in addition to his two years in the core program.
and