Penland School of Crafts

A return to Penland

A return to Penland

At the end of my time at Hambidge I was able to take a day to visit Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Tommye Scanlin and Bhakti Ziek are two amazing masters of fiber art. Tommye is a tapestry artist and has been a big inspiration and mentor for me over the last half-decade. Bhakti has also become a mentor in a wide variety of ways. She is the master of jacquard weaving but also has a vast knowledge of weaving and weave structures.

The two of them are teaching an 8-week concentration in textiles at Penland. They have 12 motivated students who are working on everything from tapestry to complicated weave structures to overshot to indigo dyeing. I was quite impressed by the variety of projects these students are working on.

The first tiny house of Miss Lucy Morgan

The first tiny house of Miss Lucy Morgan

One of the first things I noticed my first morning at Penland was a new post and beam structure which was sheltering this truck.

Lucy Morgan was quite a woman. She started Penland School of Crafts with her brother Rufus. Rufus soon bowed out, but Lucy spent her life tending the school. It started innocently enough. She taught local women to weave goods to be sold as a way to support their families. Eventually she found herself running a school that taught much more than weaving. 

In the midst of the Depression, there was no money and the students were not coming for classes, so Lucy rounded up the funds to take the below truck and a log cabin building (the first "tiny house"?) all the way to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair to sell the weaving of her Appalachian community. Her weavers wove all winter without pay to make stock for the fair and their gamble paid off. She even got the yarn supplier to give her materials with the promise to pay him back after the fair. 

Tiny tapestry landscapes of Penland

Tiny tapestry landscapes of Penland

After much deliberation, I brought my little pipe loom to Penland where I am teaching a two-week class about color use in tapestry weaving. I debated about trying to weave a large piece on a floor loom, but I'm not the kind of teacher that can really accomplish my own work while teaching a workshop. I need uninterrupted time to make work and teaching is definitely a full-on task.

I usually travel to teach with a Mirrix loom but I wanted to do some four-selvedge experimenting and the thinner bars on the pipe loom work better for this. So the decision was pipes. 

Forest witches and all, creativity is the thing

Forest witches and all, creativity is the thing

First of all, I'm still at Penland. Thankfully. I've been here a week now and feel I could stay for a few years without trouble. I'm still searching for more wishing wells (as well as forest witches) but I've also seen some marvels in the other studios. For example, Esther Shimazu is here and the clay figures that class is making are incredible. They are firing tomorrow. I can't wait to see the personalities that come out of that kiln.

The amount of creativity that I see every minute is astounding. Put two-hundred plus people who are interested in art and craft together on the side of a mountain, give them a little instruction, time, some good food, and the proper tools and the results are phenomenal.

Doin' the craft school thing

Doin' the craft school thing

If you missed the oft-repeated news, I'm at Penland. I apologize for mentioning it so often, but geez if Penland isn't just the greatest place. I've been here three days now and already feel everything loosening up. Maybe that is the morning yoga, but my step is lighter and my headspace is clearer.

I am here to teach a tapestry class called The Thrill of Color. It addresses color use through color theory and woven techniques to blend color. It is such a wonderful thing to have two full weeks to work with a group of students. This length of time allows some real learning and experimentation to happen.

A stash-use failure

A stash-use failure

After trying to convince myself for a whole day that the camel/silk yarn I found in the stash was going to be the perfect thing for this two-week teaching trip, I quickly caved when Emily (the enabler) suggested we could make a quick stop by The Loopy Ewe on our way downtown last night. It took me no less than two seconds to agree whole-heartedly. Luckily for me, the Ewe is open until 8:30 on Thursdays and yesterday folks, was Thursday.

Stash diving

Stash diving

There comes a moment when I'm getting ready to go on another trip when I feel compelled to visit one of the excellent yarn stores here and buy the supplies for a new knitting project. The voice in my head is very strong.

"You have two long travel days and two weeks among strangers. If you run out of knitting/weaving/spinning projects, you might not survive." --Rebecca's head-voice

Resisting this voice is difficult, but I am determined to go shopping in my own yarn stash first. This is only practical. The stash is threatening to take over all available space in my clothes closet and even I need to wear clothes most days. Certainly I can find an appropriate match of knitting yarn and pattern for the upcoming teaching trip to Penland School of Crafts? Surely I can.