Report From Penland School of Craft

Penland School of Craft is a

center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.

Tim Tate along with Sean Hennessey and  Rob Kincheloe have just returned from teaching a class at North Carolina's Penland School Of Craft for a fall session titled: 21st Century Reliquaries. Here are some comments and photos from the class.

The glass studio at Penland.

The guys said they hit the ground running on Monday working doing demonstrations on Rubber Mold Making, Wax Casting, Plaster/Silica Mold Making, Lost wax, Dry Plaster Casting, Painting Glass, Cutting Glass, Glass etching, Flameworking. 

Sean Hennessey outlines the process for Dry Plaster Casting to create bas-relief imagery.

Robert Kincheloe shows how wax components are used to create forms in the Lost Wax process.

The WGS team talked through ideas with students, help shape the directions of work, encouraged, excited, and admired all their interest and energy. 

Tim Tate outlines the process for creating personal reliquaries.

The class learned new techniques and worked at making artwork from the objects made.

Penland Boardmember Glen Hardymon shows off his new glass slippers made in the lost wax process.

Some surprises for the class - a special flamework demo by

Simone Crestani.

The class techniques taught included pretty much everything except glass blowing. But since the absolutely incredible glass artist Pablo Soto was teaching a glass blowing class in the next room, he had his class make domes for the reliquary class.

Pablo Soto's hot glass class blew the glass for the domes.

After the techniques were taught, learned, and employed, the part of the class where artists pulled it all together was explored - making the reliquaries. Stories of regret were created, stories of anger, stories of triumph, religion, lamenting the death of bees, cheering the death of squirrels, issues of money, sexuality, and hope were all created. 

After the students created their works, a "Show & Tell" exhibit.

Yes, thats a real (taxidermied) squirrel with a glass hand grenade.

The class made and presented Tim with a special reliquary. The "F" inside refers to Tim's prolific use of 'f-bombs' in his banter.

All in all a fantastic experiencefor all involved - we'd highly recommend taking a class there!