Speaking of Arrowmont . . .

I'll be teaching a class there beginning one year from today! August 28 - September 3, 2011: Surface decoration for turned boxes and lidded bowls.

Here's the class description: Small turned objects offer a wonderful canvas for surface enhancement techniques. In this class we will explore surfaces and how to make a turned object tell a story. Techniques to be covered include pyrography, surface texturing with rotary carving tools, simple chip and line carving using palm chisels and gouges, and coloring the wood using a variety of methods. Other options for surfaces include the use of acrylic media fo...r building an interesting texture. Students must have basic turning techniques mastered, including bowl, hollowing, and spindle turning. Most of the work will be off the lathe; bring turned objects to work on, but we'll spend time on the lathe as well as on the workbench for this class.












Assistant for the course will be Ed Kelle, and I'm very excited about this. I love Ed's work with surfaces, and I'm sure we'll have a great week together with the students in the class. So, save the date and come join us at Arrowmont!

Arrowmont to Remain in Gatlinburg

This just received in an e-newsletter from Arrowmont:


In a historic decision, the Board of Governors of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts has voted to keep the nationally renowned center for contemporary craft education at its current location in Gatlinburg, TN. Arrowmont offered its first craft workshops in 1945.

Over the past two years the organization has been considering options for the future following a decision by the owners of the land to sell the property currently occupied by the school. A special task force was formed to evaluate options and possible new locations for the school and through their work the choices were narrowed to a site in Greeneville, Tenn. or remaining in the current Gatlinburg location. Since then, the Arrowmont Board has been working with officials from Gatlinburg and Greeneville to finalize proposals presented by both communities.

In making the announcement, Arrowmont Board of Governors President Mary Ann Hruska said, “After reviewing the proposals from Greeneville and Gatlinburg as well as numerous meetings with local officials, the Board decided that Arrowmont should remain in its place of founding. We look forward to working more closely with the local community regarding our future.”

The Gatlinburg community effort to retain Arrowmont was led by former Mayor Jerry Hays and City Manager, Cindy Ogle.

"I am extremely pleased with this decision to keep Arrowmont in Gatlinburg. I want to especially thank the Gatlinburg Arrowmont Work Group for their dedication during this process. A lot of hard work has gone into preparing for this day by representatives of the City, Sevier County, Sevier County School System, the Chamber of Commerce, and private citizens. From here, it is my hope that we can sit down together and map out how we will achieve the goals and dreams for Arrowmont’s future," states Jerry Hays.

Arrowmont’s Strategic Planning Committee, along with the Gatlinburg Work Group, will immediately begin determining next steps including the orchestration of a capital campaign for funds to support the School’s future and exploring community partnership opportunities. The School’s on-going fundraising continues through the Friends of Arrowmont Fund. You may join by visiting our website or by calling 865-436-5860.

“This decision ensures that the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts will continue to be a leader in contemporary studio craft for many years to come,” said Hruska, adding, “Arrowmont provides the best in craft education in new and exciting ways while furthering our mission of enriching lives through art.”

Here's the link to the newsletter: eVisions Newsletter August/September 2010

Arrowmont 2008 - Part VI

11 July 2008 - Friday

Wow, the week sure went fast. This was the obligate class portrait - pleasant but not reflective of the fun we had all week.










That's better! L to R, front row: Allan Beck, Susan Pollard, Bob Elfant, Hal Taylor, Andi Wolfe. Back Row L to R: Evelyn Lahti, Myra Orton, Tom Quillan, Mel Glick, Bill Stephenson.








Hal Taylor's project in progress.












Susan Pollard's











Myra Orton's











Mel Glick at work










Friday evening was treat with one of the summer concert series scheduled. Jay Clark did the first set.










Adrienne Young and her band were the headliners. It was a fantastic concert!








I stayed on Saturday morning to do a demonstration for the Knoxville club whose members drove over to Arrowmont.

Before that demo I walked around campus to take some more photos. This small cabin is between the wood studio and the staff house.







These totems are from chapters of the American Association of Woodturners. The AAW had its start at Arrowmon.
















A detail of some of the collaborations that make up the segments of the totems.
















The one with the Cleveland Indians logo must be from the North Coast Woodturners. Maybe I'm guessing wrong, but that would make sense to me.

I really enjoyed the Arrowmont experience. I hope to be back there in two years to do another summer course.

Arrowmont 2008 - Part V

10 July 2008 - Thursday.

The final two days of my class were set aside for the students to work on their individual projects. In addition to the sampler boards they started on Wednesday, they had a platter or plate motif to do as well as one to several tall bowl forms.

They used pyrography, carved textures and two different coloring techniques to come up with some patchwork and other design motifs, some of which were for incorporating the digital doodle ideas from Tuesday.




I had fun watching Susan Pollard coming up with some very creative motifs on her sampler and turned forms. She's the first art major I've had in one of my hands-on classes and it was great to have her experience with other media to be shared with the other students.





Myra was on scholarship from the Tennessee Association of Woodturners and she was a very eager and enthusiastic learner. She planned to take all of the information she learned during the week back to her association to share with other turners. The openness among turners in terms of sharing techniques is one of the aspects I really enjoy about this endeavor.





Alan and Tom were here on vacations with their spouses and they spent the day time in class, but needed to balance the needs of their spouses in the evenings. From talking to other instructors and students at Arrowmont, this seems to be a common pattern - combining vacation with a class.




I drove to Arrowmont rather than flying, as I usually do when I go off to teach a woodturning or surface enhancement techniques class. Thus, I was able to bring a lot more supplies along and most of these were used, although the focus tended to be on the metallics and interference acrylic paints. Still, it was good to be prepared for trying other ideas.






I did this sampler board as a demonstration for the class, but gave it to Evelyn Lahti as a thank you for all the help she gave as the class assistant. It's a lot of work for room and board. Thanks, Evelyn! You were a champ!









The wood studio has a gallery of excellent art pieces. This one is by Stoney Lamar.

















This is a sculpture by Joe Falsetti.















Here's a view of the gallery space. The front doors open onto the street where the main building is across the way. To the right are the doors into the woodturning studio.










Jean François Escoulen's work.
















The view across the street to the main building.













It rained on Thursday and the afternoon was pretty wet. You can get an idea from the roof runoff.















The extra wide eaves are good for shade and for keeping the walls a bit drier than they would otherwise be.














Susan Pollard's work in progress.













Thursday night's activity was the annual art auction. Here are director and co-director David Willard and Bill Griffith (L to R).













I'm not sure how many people were there from outside the school, but it seemed like a decent turnout. The donated art items were on display prior to the auction. I did some bidding, but didn't bring anything home from this event.






John Hill was, of course, the auctioneer. I've certainly seen John in action a lot this summer - first at AAW, then his home association's fund raiser and then Arrowmont. He certainly knows how to get the bids going and make everyone have a good time in the process.

Arrowmont 2008 - Part IV

July 9, 2008. Wednesday at Arrowmont means mid-term time for the class. This was the day that the students worked on learning pyrography and coloring techniques. It's always a fun exercise, and this bunch was very enthusiastic about learning as much as they could.







I was really glad we we had the bench room to use. Otherwise, we would have been really hard pressed to find enough spaces for everyone to work comfortably.








Susan had her laptop loaded with iTunes and she played a lot of music from the 60's ad 70's - golden oldies that were pretty appropriate for the demographics in the class.








Bill is just contemplating what to do next. . .











Evelyn was working on some small pieces for her grandbaby.













Mel, hard at work.













Wednesday afternoon is reserved for the resident artists' open studio tours. Their facility is up the hill from the rest of campus. That camper on the right was made by resident wood artist, Damon McIntyre.









I'm always interested in seeing an artist's sketchbook.











This is the work of Magda Gluszek.










More of Magda's sculptural work in progress.










Lindsay Oesterritter is the other ceramics resident artist.











Her work is beautiful, I think.











The textures and colors work well together.













Damon McIntyre is the resident wood artist this year.









He has quite a range of things in his portfolio.











The current fiber artist in residence is Rachel Hunt.










The other artist in residence is Susan Roberts who works in 2D media.










It was really fun to see these studios and to talk to the artists about their work.









Meanwhile, back in the wood studio, the pyrography and coloring projects were progressing nicely. This is Susan Pollard's sampler board - very creative textures coming from this art student.







Bill and Myra hard at work.












Evelyn making progress on her grandbaby's pieces.










A lot of concentrating coming from Hal.










Some of Susan's explorations from the previous two days.











A patchwork sampler bowl in progress by Myra.











I took a bit of time on Wednesday to walk into the other studios to see what kind of projects were being done in the other media workshops.









I was surprised about how much was going on in the art book workshop. They were doing all sorts of fun things - from making prints and cutouts to calligraphry.








This looked like a lot of fun!











Some of the designs were delightful all on their own, but the incorporation into books was intriguing.









I wish I had seen some of the finished books.












Neat patterns.
















Controlled chaos.











The drawing studio was also pretty busy, although I stopped by whilst everyone was at dinner.









This was the dessert from Wednesday's lunch.











The print workshop was spacious, but there was a lot going on here as well.










Some random shots of works in progress here,












and here.











One of the students put their tryptic together for me to see.









Here's one panel of this project.










One of the lounges near these studios. Looks like a great place to relax and share ideas.












I also visited the ceramics studio. Sam Chung was the instructor for this week and he was focusing on the ergonomics of vessels.









The ceramics studio gets pretty messy during the week.









Uhmmmm, I prefer wood shavings to this, thank you very much.










Some interesting work being done. . .










The metalsmithing workshop was my final stop on this self-tour of campus.











It looked like they were having a blast exploring ideas for jewelry.










It looked like some interesting designs were in progress, too.









Some familiar tools being used. . .













A coping saw in action to cut a piece of metal into a particular shape.









It looks like the workbenches are set up nicely in this studio.










Copious notes and miscellaneous tools on the bench.