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

Thanks for reading.

Snow Show!

I worked with my most unusual material yet when I made 25 brooches out of snow for the recent "Snow Show" at Penland. Core fellows Ian Henderson and Leah Frost made a giant igloo and hosted a special exhibition featuring art inspired by, or in my case made with, snow. The snow-themed art was inside the igloo and included work by core fellows, studio coordinators, and other community members.

Snow is not an easy material to work with! I had to work quickly and with gloves on. Once the pieces were done I spritzed them with water and froze them for several hours before the opening. The first 25 people at the show got to wear and keep one. (Process pics on flickr.)

steel pins with white tool dip by Daniel Beck

tissue paper light by Rosina Saqib

I posted lots more images on Flickr. You can also visit the Penland School of Crafts Facebook page to see more pictures.

Thanks for reading.

Core Seminar/The Process Project

paper folding exercise from last winter

During the Spring and Fall Concentrations I taught Core seminar for Penland's Core Fellows; in the spring I led a discussion on process and this past fall we continued that conversation while also diving into some basic professional practices. The spring seminar topic stemmed from my interest in artist process, something I started to investigate during the winter through sample making, writing, and reading. When I began preparing for seminar I thought it would be helpful for Core Fellows to learn how other artists work as well as being equally helpful to me. So I turned to my artist friends working in different media for help and asked them to answer five questions:

What is your process?
How do you generate ideas?
How do you work through a block?
How do you begin a new piece or a new body of work?
Describe an average day in your studio.

I passed along their responses every Monday to my students, usually six or seven at a time. The following week they could comment or ask questions. We also spent each session talking about a different question accompanied by some written exercises.

For me both the seminar and the project were fascinating. I loved reading each response and could hear the artists' voices in my head as I read. I was most interested in the similarities and differences between us as makers and found myself often nodding my head or commenting out loud. They made me feel connected to other artists around the country no matter the age, medium, or level of success. In my correspondence with the participating artists, many said it was challenging for them to put their process into words, but they enjoyed it very much. They said it was great to think deeply about the questions and then get it all written down. The Core students also seemed to get a lot from reading and i think it helped them to describe what they do as well.

In the fall we revisited the questions. I wanted to know how things had changed after a summer of classes. The intense art making environment of the Penland summer helped them to clarify and solidify their own processes.

If you are interested in answering these questions for yourself, please do, and if you like, email me your responses. (amy@amytavern.com) I would love to read more answers!

To see more examples of my process, please visit my process set on flickr.

Thanks for reading.

pins for the core fellows

the opening for the penland core fellows' annual exhibition was this past friday. the day of the show has become quite a celebration around here. core students have a special dinner prepared for them, they are given handmade gifts, staff members and others volunteer to do their jobs, they are chauffeured around in a hilarious theme-decorated van, there's an opening reception, a roast, and a party. it is definitely one of my favorite times here and this years exhibition is truly remarkable. i was astounded when i saw it for the first time friday afternoon. during spring concentration i taught core seminar, an hour-long weekly class, and the fellows liked it so much, they asked me to come back. i am now teaching during this fall's concentration. needless to say, i have become quite fond of all of them. they are a wonderful group of incredibly talented artists. i was one of the people who made them mementos this year for the show. i made a brooch for each fellow, personalized with materials or imagery that they like and that reminds me of them. it was great fun to figure out the perfect material for each person and even more fun to see their reactions when they opened them up.

pin for rosie with layers of waxed paper cut with scallop scissors

here's a list of the current core students with links, if available:

ele annand
daniel beck
jason bige burnett
leah frost
jessica heikes
ian henderson
rosina saqib
amanda thatch
mark warren

the show runs through november 14 at the penland gallery. it's a beautiful show and a must-see of you live nearby or find yourself in the area.

more images of the pins on flickr.

thanks for reading.