Summer Sessions

1/BLACKSMITHING

Scrap Box Number 2 by Jim Wallace, c. 1990. Cherry wood and wrought iron.

Playing with Fire

Through a series of project-specific exercises, we will endeavor to become proficient in the basic skills of forging iron and steel. Taking those newly acquired skills and combining them in various sequences, we will find the complex made simple and mysteries making sense. Traditional methods of joinery will be covered as well as forge welding and heat treating. Slide lectures will cover more advanced fabrication projects as well as an in depth look at highly specialized aspects of ironwork. All levels welcome.

JIM WALLACE lives and works in the Ozarks of Northern Arkansas. The Founding Director of the Metal Museum, Memphis, Tennessee, he has been blacksmithing for over forty years. Jim Wallace has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, and was elected membership to the College of Fellows, American Craft Council. His work has been widely exhibited, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Mint Museum of Craft + Design, North Carolina; Museum of Arts & Design, New York; and Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Jim Wallace has lectured and conducted workshops nationally, and internationally for the British Crafts Council and the Arts Council of New Zealand.

1/CLAY

Working to Make the Pots You Want to Make

Bowl by Scott Goldberg, 2009, Stoneware 12" x 4".

The growth of each participant’s work in clay will be supported in this workshop with hands-on attention and to improve the essential skills of hand and eye. We will help each other envision the work we want to make, and closely observe and refine how we bring that work to fruition. The primary focus will be making functional ware: mugs, bowls, jars, pitchers, and teapots. Areas for exploration and skill development will include throwing, altering, assembling, decorating, surface manipulation, gas reduction firing, and soda/salt firing. All levels welcome.

Snack Jar by Gay Smith, 2011. Porcelain, wheel thrown, 7 1/2" x 7 1/2".

SCOTT GOLDBERG has been a full-time studio potter since 1978. He received a BA from the University of Delaware and was the studio potter at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, from 1972–1978. Scott Goldberg has taught at Penland and Haystack.

GERTRUDE GRAHAM SMITH, aka GAY, is a studio potter and teaching artist. She fires porcelain ware in a soda kiln. Gay Smith has been an artist-in-residence at the Archie Bray Foundation and Penland and has taught at Haystack, Penland, Harvard University, and abroad. Her work is in the collections of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, North Carolina and Taiwan’s Yingge Museum. Grant awards include a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship and a Regional Artist Project Grant. Smith’s work is in numerous publications including Ceramics Monthly and Making Marks by Robin Hopper. gertrudegrahamsmith.com

1/FIBER

Drape and Scaffold

Arrested Development (Installation detail) by Sarah Wagner, 2009. Tagboard, masking tape, photographs, and plywood, 30" x 28" x 38".

“... the scaffold promises practically everything to the architect both languorous and alert. Then it disappears. As for us, we too want something that’s neither inside nor outside, neither a space nor a site. In an inhabitable surface that recognizes us, we’d like to gently sway. Then we would be happy.” (Doubt & The History of Scaffolding by Lisa Robertson, Artspeak 2002). Workshop participants will examine the tensions, relationships, and possibilities between structures and skins. While exploring processes of patternmaking, sewing, armature building, and prototyping, students will undertake rigorous workshops and projects developing a highly personal and conceptual language of form. All levels welcome.

SARAH WAGNER is a sculptor and installation artist. She received a BFA from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was a Resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, and received an MFA from California College of the Arts. Sarah Wagner has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Penland, and College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. She received a Pollock/Krasner Grant in 2009. Her work has been in exhibitions at de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University, California; San Francisco Museum of Craft & Folk Art; as well as Homie Galerie and Projekt 0047 in Berlin, Germany; was reviewed in Art Week and Art Papers; and is in the Microsoft Collection. She is represented by the Patricia Sweetow Gallery in San Francisco. sarahwagner.net

1/METALS

A Piece a Day

When They Were Kings by Nicole Jacquard, 2011. Gypsum, powder, silver, plastic, and silk, 70 x 40 x 20mm.

Idea generation is essential to any artistic practice—the constant battle that artists engage in while in their studio can be isolating\ and even daunting. Workshop participants will approach the studio fresh each day, as a blank slate, in which to work, rework, and ultimately complete a piece within twenty-four hours. Each day will consist of something new including starting points for exploration, daily demonstrations of basic techniques for fastening and other simple mechanisms, exploration of traditional and unusual materials, as well as short exercises to help process ideas for the development of future work. All levels welcome

NICOLE JACQUARD teaches Metalsmithing & Jewelry Design and Sculpture at Indiana University, where she received a BA. Nicole Jacquard received her first MFA from the University of Michigan and a second while on a Fulbright Fellowship at RMIT University, Australia, where she also completed a Ph.D. in Fine Arts. Her work is in the collection of the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary and the Riga Porcelain Museum in Riga, Latvia. Recent residencies include the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary and Grey Street Studio, Adelaide, Australia; and in 2008 Nicole Jacquard was a Visiting Artist and Scholar at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. nicolejacquard.com

1/PAINTING / DRAWING

Seeing Things as They Are; Life-size Drawing

Division Piece #44 (Stilted) by Fred Lynch, 2011. Oil and enamel, aluminum on MDF 16" x 20" x 3".

This workshop is about careful and objective observation of our everyday world—of our immediate surroundings and nearby environment. Drawing objects life-size, with faithful adherence to actual height and width, is both challenging and rewarding. Basic tools such as charcoal and cónte work well in capturing the dramatic and expressive qualities of even the most mundane subject. Haystack, of course, can provide subject matter that is far from humdrum. Drawing from the model will be available and multiple object arrangements will supplement individual choice of subject matter. Think big, draw everything. All levels welcome.

FREDERICK LYNCH is a painter and sculptor living in Saco, Maine. From 1980 to 2006 he taught drawing and painting at the University of Southern Maine, Portland. Recent one-person shows of his work were held at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine; Connecticut College; and Maine’s Portland Museum of Art. Frederick Lynch’s current work explores the various relationships between 2D and 3D crossovers in painting and relief sculpture, as well as issues of media translation of one’s own work. fredericklynch.com

1/WOOD

Beyond Vernacular—Doors, Drawers, and Surfaces

New Antique vol.1 by Cory Robinson, 2010. Walnut wood, steel, paint, acrylic, 14" x 30" x 49".

Workshop participants will explore the idea that furniture forms have function as their primary operation, but also have the ability to transcend function as places to house history, stories, and narrative. We will ask questions of how we interact with furniture in our daily rituals and assess a value in making objects that serve specific purposes or are designed to house specific objects. Students will explore cabinet making techniques alongside other processes for furniture construction, and will spend the two weeks designing and making one significant work or a series of multiples that explore the known languages of furniture design in pursuit of work that is narrative, personal, design, and craft oriented. All levels welcome.

CORY ROBINSON is an artist, designer, and an Associate Professor of Furniture Design and Fine Arts Chair at the Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University. He received a BFA in Furniture Design from the Herron School of Art and an MFA in Furniture Design from San Diego State University, California. His work has been in exhibitions in the US and in publications including 500 Cabinets and 500 Tables (Lark Press), and Woodwork Magazine. Cory Robinson’s work reflects his interest in functional forms that speak with an artist’s sensibility. coryrobinsonstudio.com

1/WRITING

Visual Poetry

The word poetry is derived from poësis, the ancient Greek word that means “to make.” During this generative workshop, we will make poems and experiment with ephemeral modes, tactile methods, unusual scale, spaces, and durations in order to create a more open field for poetic possibility. Selected readings, visual poetry, conceptual art, concrete poetry, and artists’ books will be presented, and fabricating techniques will also be explored for their compositional potential. Writers and makers from all backgrounds welcome.

JEN BERVIN is a poet and visual artist. She teaches in the MFA writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and has guest-taught recently at Harvard University and Gothenberg University in Sweden. Her poetry/artist books include The Dickinson Composites (Granary Books 2010), The Silver Book (Ugly Duckling Presse 2010), The Desert (Granary 2008), A Non-Breaking Space (UDP 2005), and Nets (UDP 2004). Jen Bervin’s work is in the collections of The J. Paul Getty Museum, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Yale University, and the British Library. She has received fellowships in art and writing from The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, The New York Foundation for the Arts, Centrum, The MacDowell Colony, and The Camargo Foundation. jenbervin.com