I had the privilege of teaching a one-week workshop on Layering Surface at the Penland School of Crafts in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. It is a magical place, focused students on retreat in the mountains to learn while making work. The staff at Penland work hard at taking care of your needs, well kept housing, wonderful meals by their expert cooks (and no clean up thanks to work study students), well run studios. I had two terrific assistants, Cheyenne Rudolph I brought from UF and one assigned by Penland, Erin Casey from Boulder. They loaded, fired and unloaded about 20 eclectic kilns, at one point dehydrating in intense heat from the weather and the kilns. I imposed forced gingerade breaks at the coffee shop after that!
The images show some of the range of work we made, covering materials and techniques involving slip, underglaze, glaze, laser decals, vintage decals, china paint and luster. Cheyenne demonstrated some of her surface techniques. Ceramics Coordinator extraordinaire Susan Feagin, Cheyenne and myself visited the studio of Cynthia Bringle, one of the field’s national treasures.
Penland School of Crafts
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