#penland school of craft

[matmarrash]

My 2023 in Review: Grants, Public Art, and Teaching

With 2024 right around the corner, now’s the perfect time to reflect on 2023 and share a bit more about what I’ve been up to. In terms of making pictures, 2023 is currently in my Top 3 worst years for creating photographic work. This doesn’t mean that everything else I was working on wasn’t photography related, it just wasn’t work for myself. Looking back, this year was all about strengthening my arts connections locally by sharing photography with the community. In no particular order, here’s what I’ve been up to for the past twelve months.

After-school Arts

Since the Fall Semester of 2022, my good friend Tariq Tarey and I have been working closely with a local charter school to develop an after-school photography program. For our first year, we were able to get interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras into the hands of fourteen eager 7th and 8th graders. Each week, we would take an hour to introduce the kids to a different aspect of photography. Throughout the year we managed to guide them out of Auto Mode on their cameras and start “seeing” their photos instead of simply “point and shoot”. By the end of year one students had: photographed a body of work, critiqued and edited their pictures, printed, framed, and entered their photographs into a local art show.

It’s been a long time since I’d worked with middle school aged kids, and to say I was nervous about working with younger students is an understatement. From years of teaching privately via Midwest Photo and One-on-One workshops, teenagers haven’t been my typical clientele. Many of them had no experience with a camera outside of a smartphone, and the idea of a dedicated device for picture taking was completely foreign. To the surprise of Tariq and myself, they picked up the basics at lightning pace. The mechanics took a bit more practice than anticipated, but their grasp of the language of photography was impressive and helped guide their vision. Overall I’m incredibly proud of what our students were able to accomplish in our short time together, and I’m looking forward to 2024 where we’ll be back for a new class of creatives!

Hilltop Cyanotype Day

Each year, the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) offers financial support to individual artists and arts organizations in the Columbus, OH area in the form of grants. These can range from one-time stipends for artist’s supplies to sustaining grants for arts nonprofits in the area. I’ve been participating in GCAC Individual Artist grants since 2015 and looking through the 2023 opportunities list, there was a new program that piqued my interest. The Neighborhood Arts Connection (NAC) grants are a way for artists residing in a particular Columbus neighborhood to receive funding to elevate and engage the community. And one of the two neighborhoods on the list for early 2023 was the Hilltop, where I’ve been for the last four years. There were two levels of the NAC grant available, $5k and $10k for a neighborhood based art program, so I decided to swing for the fences. I pitched a one-day public workshop where ANYONE would be able to attend free of charge to make a cyanotype print. To my complete surprise, the grant was approved; this was going to be my biggest undertaking of the year by far!

Even as I talk about it in past tense, $10k is a lot of money to spend on any one thing. I’m incredibly grateful that Columbus has an arts organization that’s able to support artists and their communities with grants like this. All of that being said, $10k for a public art event can be tough when accounting for everything that goes into the day. Breaking it down into three core categories, here’s what the budget looked like on my grant application versus what it actually came out to:

Material Resources - $4360 planned, $3878.81 actual

Includes art supplies, consumable goods, first aid supplies, and miscellaneous goods purchased for the event.

Human Resources - $4400 planned, $4682.50 actual

Includes pay for event host (me), eight assistants, and security all at a fair wage.

Event Planning - $1240 planned, $1693.11 actual

Includes space rental, permits, insurance, and event marketing.

So how far did that $10k go? I’m a little biased here, but I think it was enough to make an impact on my neighborhood. On Sunday October 1st, 2023 at Westgate Park, I along with eight other local artists hosted a hands-on workshop where all attendees were able to make their own cyanotype prints, free of charge. No photography experience? No problem! There were 200+ pieces of pre-coated light sensitive materials on-site, with dozens of different stencils and objects to make a unique photogram.

Throughout the course of the day, we had over 130 members of the public join us in making nearly 200 cyanotype prints on: watercolor paper, t-shirts, tote bags, napkins, and a few giant cotton murals! We had folks of all ages in attendance from age 4 - 72, many of which stayed to make extra prints. There were a few photographers that showed up, but a vast majority were Hilltop and Westgate locals that were interested in making something by hand. Any leftover arts and craft supplies that were used from the day made it into the hands of Hilltop art teachers, and two of the giant “snow angel” murals were donated to Hilltop local establishments. Most importantly, no attendees left the event empty handed, and everyone remained safe while having fun experiencing the joy of photography!

There were plenty of hurdles and a lot of lessons learned during the planning and execution of this event. Once I have that all of my thoughts and feelings compiled into an explainer video, I’ll be sure to append this blog post accordingly. For now, here are a couple of galleries of photographs taken on Cyanotype Day by photographers Shiann Banks (below) and Gracie Becker (above), thank you both SO MUCH for your help!

Research & Residency

Working as a freelance photographer is still not something I’m 100% used to yet, but in this second year of not having a 9-to-5 job I’ve started to look at opportunities that were previously out of reach. In previous years I’d see a handful of amazing location workshops and artist in residence (AiR) programs that I couldn’t participate in due to lack of paid time off days. One of my big goals for 2023 was to change this by applying to upcoming AiR programs and explore new grants. The Hilltop Cyanotype Day was one such opportunity afforded by a generous GCAC grant, but I’m happy to report there are a couple more.

Starting in January in 2024, I’ll be taking part in the Winter Residency program at the Penland School of Craft. Penland is an amazing craft school nestled into the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. Each year they host over a thousand students in residencies and workshops of various lengths and disciplines. During those few Winter weeks I’ll be in charge of the photo studio and darkroom spaces at Penland in exchange for some much needed time and access to work on my alternative process photography.

Alongside the Winter Residency at Penland, I’m equally excited to announce that I’ve received a generous grant award from the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) to help fund additional materials and research related to alternative process photography. Combined with my upcoming time at Penland, my aim to is come back to Columbus and spend more time making fine prints throughout 2024. With any luck I’ll be attempting several new-to-me alt processes and be reporting back to you all here on the blog and the YouTube channel.

In retrospect, 2023 was another year defined by photography, just not my own. I wasn’t out making pictures with big sheets of film through an “old timey” as much as usual, but I still had a blast. Thanks to everyone that helped make this past year a meaningful one, and an especially big thanks to the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Ohio Arts Council for helping support my continued photographic projects. Have a safe and Happy New Year, and I hope to share more photography with you all very soon!

[mybeingthere]

Raven Girl, 2013 by Audrey Niffenegger (American, b. 1963, South Haven, MI, USA), who tells us about this story:

"Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven. So begins the tale of a postman who encounters a fledgling raven on his route and decides to bring her home. The unlikely couple falls in love and conceives a child—a raven girl trapped in a human body. The raven girl feels imprisoned by her arms and legs and covets wings and the ability to fly. Betwixt and between, she reluctantly grows into a young woman, until one day she meets an unorthodox doctor who is willing to change her.

Raven Girl was created as part of a collaboration with Wayne McGregor for the Royal Opera House Ballet in London. I wrote the story and made aquatints to illustrate it. Wayne then used the story and images as the basis for his ballet, which premiered at the Royal Opera House in June, 2013."

Audrey talks about herself:

"I was born in South Haven, Michigan, grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and now live in Chicago with frequent visits to London. I am married to the artist and writer Eddie Campbell.

I began making prints in 1978 under the tutelage of William Wimmer. I trained as a visual artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and received my MFA from Northwestern University’s Department of Art Theory and Practice in 1991. I have exhibited my artist’s books, prints, paintings, drawings and comics at Printworks Gallery in Chicago since 1987. In 2013, a major mid-career retrospective of my prints, paintings and artist’s bookworks opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.

My first books were printed and bound by hand in editions of ten. Two of these have since been commercially published by Harry N. Abrams: The Adventuress and The Three Incestuous Sisters.

In 1997 I had an idea for a book about a time traveler and his wife. I originally imagined making it as a graphic novel, but eventually realized that it is very difficult to represent sudden time shifts with still images. I began to work on the project as a novel, and published The Time Traveler’s Wife in 2003 with the independent publisher MacAdam/Cage. It was an international best seller, and has been made into a movie.

In 1994 a group of book artists, papermakers and designers came together to found a new book arts center, the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. I was part of this group and taught book arts for many years as an Associate Professor in Columbia College’s MFA program in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts. Until May, 2015 I was a Professor on the faculty of the Columbia College Creative Writing Department. I’ve also taught for the Newberry Library, Penland School of Craft, Haystack, the University of Illinois at Chicago and other institutions of higher learning. I am currently on hiatus from teaching in order to get my own work done."

[handweavers]

Is the textile program you're in associated with an arts institute or anything? I just joined the bachelor of visual art program at my art school and I'd love to get into textile arts but the textile department looks pretty dead and I'm not sure how much I'm gonna be able to do. Where do I sign up to do weaving full time

i mean my program is taught through an arts university, ie. my school has a thriving textile department and my degree is centred around it. if you're looking for a university program that specializes in textiles and weaving there are many in the US and several in canada that i can point you toward. I know of some good textile programs in australia and europe as well but i'm most familiar with canada and to a lesser extent east coast usa

but there are arts institutions and schools that are not degree-granting but still teach textiles as a craft. usually referred to as centres for craft or craft education, school of craft, etc. if you're in the US some major (non degree) craft schools with textile departments are penland, haystack, arrowmont, I believe there's a folk school in NC, and there's a heritage weaving school in vermont called marshfield. you can also look into weaver's guilds in your area, most regions have one and they're usually super helpful and welcoming and you could find someone experienced who is open to teaching you through that.

in canada most schools like this are embedded within colleges or universities, ex. new brunswick college of art and design. the only one in ontario that teaches non degree granting classes in textile craft is the haliburton school of art and design afaik but even that is affiliated with fleming college (you might also be able to find stuff through sheridan trafalgar but i'm not sure). but we also have the ontario guild of handweavers and spinners as well as local weaver's guilds, and likewise across most provinces.

[jrothshank]

Tonight at the wood kiln at @penlandschool @penland_clay @sara.m.gallagher @sadiemisiukceramics (at Penland School of Craft) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqo4pjHs4do/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[assurancechomage]

Mi Wani Boro, James Bassler, 2019

Jim Bassler was introduced to textile traditions at an early age through the rug-hooking that his father did in the winter. After high school he settled on studying sociology at UCLA (instead of art, his true passion), however the Korean Conflict interrupted his academic plans. Bassler served in Europe and then worked as a civilian in London.

At 27, Bassler left his job and boarded a cargo ship for Hong Kong. The journey took him through many Eastern and Southeast Asian countries, allowing him to witness how the indigenous people used craft to solve problems and define culture. On these travels he was exposed to spinning, weaving, dyeing, and surface design. In 1960, he returned to UCLA as an Art major, where his early works reflected what he had experienced in his travels. Those experiences and those from other travels continue to inspire him. His complex weaving work also draws inspiration from Navajo, pre-Columbian Andean, and Mexican textile traditions. Bassler moved with his wife, ceramicist Veralee Bassler, and children, to live full-time in Oaxaca, Mexico from 1971 until 1975. This experience provided a direct introduction to the weaving traditions of the indigenous people that greatly influenced his work.

Bassler received his BA and MA from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he taught for 25 years at the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture. He also helped to establish the fiber/textile program at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, Tennessee and has taught at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and the Penland School of Crafts. He has been recognized as a Gold Medalist by the American Craft Council.

https://www.craftinamerica.org/artist/james-bassler/

[creativemorningsphiladelphia]

Emily Edelstein, the Executive Director of CraftNOW, is a lifelong student of craft. She has varied hands-on experience, including boatbuilding and blacksmithing, but her personal focus is fiber arts. Emily studied at the John C. Campbell Folk School and the Penland School of Crafts. She holds a BA in Global Studies from Penn State University, and a MS in Arts Administration from Drexel University, where her thesis explored the role of craftspeople within the modern American art world. Emily previously served as the Interim Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Photo by Steve Weinik.

This CreativeMornings Philadelphia event was generously hosted by our partners at Adobe and our local sponsors Center for DesignPhiladelphia, The Navy Yard

[doornkamp-blog]

PHOTOGRAPHERS WORTH FOLLOWING 4: DAVID GRAY

FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY David Gray spent his early years in North Carolina and trained at Penland School of Craft and at ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles. He moved to Canada in 1980 to work as an on-set still photographer for film and television. Fine art photography has always been at the centre of his photography and this forms the basis of his web site and also his exhibition work (in…

[featherwild-sarah]

Indigo dyed pieces made in Traditional Yoruba Dyeing Techniques workshop taught by Gasali Adeyemo at Penland School of Craft

[subtlesolitude-tailoredtaste]

Raw Craft with Anthony Bourdain – Episode Seven: Elizabeth Brim

BalvenieUS

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2016

Sep 15

Fresh off a minor jiu-jitsu ear injury, Anthony Bourdain & The Balvenie head to Penland, North Carolina to meet with Elizabeth Brim, master metalsmith and instructor at the Penland School of Crafts. Brim is one-of-a-kind in the industry and her work is noted for the creation of traditionally feminine objects created from iron. In this episode, Brim introduces an original method she developed for inflating metal. Each of her works contain hours of detailed labor to achieve end results that will last a lifetime. Episode directed by filmmaker Rob Meyer.

[crazyblondelife]

A Growing Community and a Celebration...Haand Ceramics + The City of Burlington

The City of Burlington and Haand Ceramics announce a hand-painted line of commemorative plates celebrating the Burlington Carousel Festival!

 Burlington’s Historic, hand carved Dentzel Carousel is treasured by our small community. Brought to City Park in 1948, the beauty and craftsmanship of the rideable work of art has created special memories for generations of residents (including me) and is very much a part of the city’s identity.  

Another important part of Burlington’s identity was manufacturing (historically, textiles and hosiery), and while the life sciences industry may employ more residents these days, the remaining factory buildings throughout town are a constant reminder of that history. 

Haand Ceramics is located in an old textile mill near Burlington’s downtown at the corner of Tucker and Maple Streets. The mill was originally the Willowbrook Hosiery Mill and is an ideal location for the pottery store and studio.

Haand was started in 2012 by Mark Warren and Chris Pence, friends who met in high school in Jacksonville, Florida. Mark had recently finished a two-year fellowship at Penland School of Craft in Bakersville, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Chris had studied business and accounting in graduate school and left his role as a corporate accountant to start Haand, which was originally run out of a decrepit farmhouse with no potable water and mercurial electricity outside of Durham. As the business grew, they moved operations to a warehouse in Eli Whitney and in 2017, Mark and Chris moved the business to the hosiery mill on Tucker Street.

Today, they employ a team of 30 and supply pottery to restaurants and hotels worldwide. They sell locally from a showroom in the mill and through their website to homes all over the United States.

Haand makes over 75,000 pieces of handmade pottery per year in their small workshop! And…I’m excited to announce a new partnership between the City of Burlington and HAAND. Haand is making a commemorative dessert plate featuring an animal from the Dentzel Carousel’s menagerie in celebration of the 32nd Annual Carousel Festival. This year the featured animal is the tiger and they plan to feature a different animal each year for future Carousel Festivals. It’s a perfect marriage of the Carousel’s beautiful craftsmanship with the important role of manufacturing in Burlington.  

 “To have a publicly funded space like Burlington City Park is a rare and true gift to Alamance County. I know firsthand that this park is a perfect destination where I can bring my kid and we feel part of the local community.” stated Mark Warren.  “The Carousel itself is a work of art and craftsmanship, something to be appreciated on its own. I chose the tiger for our first commemorative plate because I’ve always found a childlike enjoyment in painting circus animals.” 

Visitors to the Carousel Festival can enter a raffle to win a set of two of this year’s hand-painted porcelain plates by filling out a survey about ways to improve the Carousel Festival for future years.

 A limited edition run of the hand-painted plates will be available for purchase at Haand’s showroom at 413 Tucker Street, or at  www.haand.us starting Friday, May 5th. Haand’s showroom is open Monday - Friday from 11am - 4pm, and Saturday from 12pm - 4pm. You can also visit them for a tour as part of Downtown Burlington’s Fourth Friday Art Walks on the Fourth Friday of each month, from 5:30 - 9:00 pm.  If you are local, this is a great experience and you’ll definitely leave with a piece of pottery…or 2!

Small to mid-size companies like Haand represent the majority of the Burlington’s firms and jobs and are truly the backbone of Burlington’s business community.  HAAND’S business continues to grow and one of their newest collaborations includes a beautiful line of hand-blown glassware with Christopher Kerr-Ayer, and a collection of modern heirlooms curated by Vivian Howard, a North Carolinian chef and hospitality expert.   

 The 32nd Annual Burlington Carousel Festival will be held at Burlington City Park on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday from 10am-6pm with an evening concert featuring Crawford & Power and Ryan Perry from 6pm – 10pm and on Sunday, May 7 from noon-5pm. The Carousel Festival features live music and performances, an artisan market, food trucks and food vendors, a beer garden, an action-packed Kids Zone and free rides on the newly restored Carousel and other amusement rides that call City Park home. More information here!

To download the video of the hand painting process, more images of Haand ceramics, and their manufacturing process, as well as higher resolution images of the the tiger from Burlington’s Carousel, go to this link: https://we.tl/t-XNguMsNDdt.

I hope to see you there!

[mjohnsonartz]

Sorry (2023)

Handmade paper (kozo and abaca), with hospital gown and monotype inclusions. Made in Paper Studio at the Penland School of Craft.

The base sheet was made with a deckle box technique. The kozo sheet laid over the top was a double couched sheet but still ended up with a pretty big hole in it. "Sorry".

[mybeingthere]

Carmen Lozar, glass artist, "Couture" series.

​Born in 1975, Carmen Lozar lives in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois where she maintains a studio and is a member of the art faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. Carmen has taught at Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Craft, Pittsburgh Glass School, Appalachian Center for Crafts, The Chrysler Museum, and the Glass Furnace in Istanbul, Turkey.

“The sculpture I create with glass is meant to inspire and provoke imagination. Telling stories has always been my primary objective. Some narratives are sad, funny, or thoughtful but my pieces are always about celebrating life.”

[hystericminitotebag]

I’ve also been dying to apply for a workshop at Penland School of Crafts sooooooo, we’ll see what happens.

I’ve been toying with the idea of taking a ceramics course, it’s just the place I want to take the class at has a really expensive membership which like, is kind of worth it because not only do you have the ability to take any class they offer (which ranges from like welding, to woodworking, etc), but you also have 24/7 access to their studio spaces so you can literally post up whenever and all night/day if you want to.

[jrothshank]

Teapot. Soda fired earthenware, porcelain slip, underglaze, iron decal, poppy decals. (at Penland School of Craft) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqmAS1dMfMq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[uncgarchives]

The opening pages of Amos Paul Kennedy’s students’ book “Mistakes,” produced at Penland School of Craft in 1995. Kennedy, a printer and bookbuilder with Jubalee Press, visited UNC Greensboro as a visiting printer in 1993. Previous Special Collections Librarian Emilie Mills was so impressed with his work that she immediately initiated a standing order with Mr. Kennedy and asked him to make Jackson Library the home of the press's archive. Visit http://go.uncg.edu/jubalee to learn more about Amos Kennedy and Jubalee Press!

[milesbutterball]