A Complete Thought

class selfie on the last day

My Penland class "A Complete Thought" was a fantastic experience. My students worked hard and made some very thoughtful work, considering their pieces from all sides and paying close attention to the details. It really felt like everyone challenged themselves technically and aesthetically and I so appreciate that. I enjoyed working with them and wish we had another week together. Session 7 is an intense one with jammed-packed days of demos, discussion and work time. Plus, there are evening events and other activities around campus. There is never enough time so it seems, but I'm pleased with the work of my group of 12 and we had a lot of fun. Here are a few of the finished pieces...

necklace by Baba Barnett

brooch by Roxy Lentz

ring by Sarah Tector

bracelet by Jay Teilhet

brooch by Claire Buck

Thanks for reading.

Friday Final

Today is the last day of class and students have all day and all night to work. My students have challenged themselves in a big way so I imagine many of them burning the midnight oil this evening. It's exciting to see so many of them working at the edge of their skill set, pushing themselves to get it done and done well. I realized yesterday that one of the the best feelings is seeing a student do something awesome. I might get more excited than they do.

We began our day with a last walk along the fire road and then I gave a scoring and folding demo, which is my favorite technique to teach. Now everyone is quietly working, trying to get their pieces done by tomorrow's all-school show and tell at 11am.

Thanks for reading.

Onward Ideas, A Complete Thought

Making thoroughly considered jewelry is the challenge of my upcoming class at the Penland School of Crafts. In a few weeks I'll head up the mountain to teach "A Complete Thought" during Session 7 and I'm busy putting the finishing touches on my lesson plans. I'm also busy developing a challenge for my own art practice: I would like to create something while I teach. I don't really make my own work while I'm teaching because it's hard for me to separate the making mindset from the teaching one. However, I do believe it's good for students to see their instructor work and I like the idea of talking about my process as I make something right in front of them. So, I'm thinking about creating an installation or series of installations using simple, predetermined parameters while students work independently. I would like to treat these pieces as large-scale, ephemeral sketches that echo and complement what is happening inside the classroom.

The class will happen August 24-30 and students will work on one piece of jewelry during that time. As they work, I will ask students to really consider the piece from all sides, placing equal importance on the front and back and creating jewelry that has a presence both on and off the body. Since my interests are leaning towards installation and sculpture, and I'm thinking about ideas so much, I'm looking forward to sharing fresh thoughts with my students as I lead them through the process of creating their own new works.

Thanks for reading.