Five Days

I just got back from a wonderful 5-day visit to the Penland School of Crafts. The reason for the trip was to be a visiting artist for current Fall concentration instructor, Adam Whitney. I spent two days with his class teaching chains and connections. I did a few demos and gave a presentation about chains and another one about my work. It was great to spend time in the studio. I enjoyed Adam's students and loved spending time with Adam, himself. He's a good friend and we hadn't seen each other in two and half years (!) because he was teaching in Malaysia. We had a lot of catching-up to do.

Adam demonstrating how to use the metal crimper

I also went to two different openings, one for the resident artists on Friday and the other for the Core Fellows on Saturday. Both shows were wonderful! The current residents are such a strong group and it's exciting for me to see as a former resident. They make me so proud! The Core Fellows are also making incredible work as they seem to get more sophisticated every year. The resident opening was in Asheville at the Asheville Area Arts Council Gallery and the Core Show happened in Northlight on the Penland campus. It was also my pleasure to serve the Core Fellows supper on Saturday before the opening. Core Show day is my favorite day of the Penland year and serving dinner to these lovely people feels very special. 

The rest of my time was filled with visits with friends, thoughtful discussions about art, and walks around the campus. I love every moment of my time at Penland and it always feels like coming home.

sculpture by resident artist, Tom Shields

Penland's Core Fellows

the view from the porch of the metals studio early one evening

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Flip Book!

My friend Adam Whitney has metalwork in a show called "Tacit" currently on view at the Visual Arts Center in Richmond, VA. In addition to his brass and silver vessels, he also created an incredible flip book that demonstrates raising and chasing. Here's a video of the flip book in action:

 Please be sure to visit Adam's new website.

My friend Caitie Sellers is also a part of the show. You can check out her lovely book on Blurb and see her amazing work here.

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UGA studio visit

on saturday mary hallam pearse and a group of metals students from the university of georgia at athens came to visit me in my studio. i gave an hour long talk and did some question and answer. it was great to meet them and share my experience with them. it's always good for me to talk to groups - it gets a little bit easier with every experience and i find i'm learning to organize my thoughts better and hone my comments. my studio was one of several during the visit - they also went to see angela bubash, joanna gollberg, hoss haley, and adam whitney, who also showed them around the penland campus.

neckpiece in sterling silver by mary hallam pearse

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auction diversion

marissa saneholtz - "he would have to fight them off with a stick."

copper, enamel, sterling silver, stainless pin wire, powder coat, tie fabric

a week before the auction i went over to adam whitney's house with angela bubash for a wonderful diversion - a powder coating demonstration by marissa saneholtz, the studio assistant for marlene true 5th session. marlene, deb karash (instructor 5th session) and her assistant, jessica benzaquen, and elizabeth brim were also there and we had a hilarious time together watching the demo and then trying it for ourselves. i really had no concept of what powder coating is all about but now after marissa's demo, the technique is demystified. i tried scratching my sample and then layering color, treating the material like my spray painted pieces. it works similarly except i had to put more elbow into it to remove color.


more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.