Teaching in My Neighborhood

In addition to giving a lecture at Munson Williams Proctor, I'm teaching two classes at the School of Art. The first class, "Innovating the Chain," happens this Saturday and Sunday, February 8 and 9 from 9-4 each day. The second class, "Exploring Process, Building Form," is Saturday, March 4 also from 9-4. Please follow the links to read class descriptions, see the tuition and to register. If you have any questions about my classes, please feel free to email me at amy@amytavern.com.

Here are some examples of student work from both classes taught previously:

Maia Lepo, chain from "Innovating the Chain"

Danielle James, two brooches 

from "Exploring Process, Building Form"

I'm looking forward to teaching at MWP. I took a drawing class and a ceramics class there back in the 90s and enjoyed both very much. The best drawing I've ever made was in that drawing class, too. I still have it and keep it on display in my house. It reminds me that I can indeed draw and is a beautiful document of my favorite pair of Doc Martens, which, sadly, I no longer have. The drawing also has all my marks of process--I intentionally left them intact then, which is telling to me considering my strong interest in process today.

Thanks for reading.

Innovating the Chain

working with Morgan Cassiano

I met Morgan in Certaldo, Italy a few months ago when I was teaching there and was so happy to have her in my class at Pullen!

I taught "Innovating the Chain" at Pullen Arts Center in Raleigh this past Saturday and Sunday. This was my first time teaching a two-day workshop and it went very, very well. I trimmed my week-long class syllabus to the most important aspects and still gave my students lots of time to work. I had a full class of ten and they were a really good group. Everyone was skilled already, they were hard workers, and they were a lot of fun. Most everyone knew each other already, too, so they got along great and knew how to move around the small, but well-equipped studio. 

I started the first day with a short PowerPoint on chains, showing unusual examples as I talked about different ways of constructing and using chain. I spoke about thinking differently and considering details that could make their pieces unique and stronger. Then we got to work with a few demos and some work time in the afternoon. I asked everyone to start designing a chain and stressed the importance of making samples before diving in. I met with students to talk about their individual designs and then just let them go.

chain-in-progress by Ndidi Kowalczyk

The next day I did a few quick demos in the morning and let students work all day. I really wanted them to finish their chain or get close. I met with students as needed and observed how they worked so I could suggest more efficient methods. By Sunday several students had a finished chain and the rest were well on their way.

On Saturday after class I gave a lecture on my work to a nice crowd of students, local jewelers, and community memners. The talk felt conversational and I answered some good questions at the end.

my bench

Then after class on Sunday I gave a lecture about Iceland and the work I made there to my class after several students asked to see pictures. It felt wonderful to tell my Iceland story and to share that experience with them.

Finally, Pullen is a community arts center with metals, ceramics, printing making, drawing and painting, and glass fusing. As I stated above the studio is small, but well-eqipped. It seemed to have practically everything and the tools are well-cared for. The space also has great natural light. Betty McKim who runs he metals program was ever-present and if I needed something she got it for me. I was so impressed! She also spent time in the class and made chains alongside the students and I really enjoyed having her there.

Thanks for reading.