Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Clemson University’s Art Department Well Represented at the Penland School of Crafts for Summer 2016


Patrick Owens, Self-portrait in abandoned house, Tallassee, AL 2013
We are pleased to announce that several of the Art Department's continuing students and recent alumni will be at the Penland School of Crafts on various forms of assistantships or scholarships this summer.  The Penland School of Crafts is a national center for craft education located in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. Penland's focus on excellence, its long history, and its inspiring, retreat setting have made it a model of experiential education. The school offers workshops in books and paper, clay, drawing and painting, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking and letterpress, textiles, wood, and other media. Penland sponsors artist residencies, a gallery and visitors center, and community education programs.

In summer Session 1, May 29—June 10, Carey Morton (MFA in Art candidate, sculpture emphasis), is the recipient of the Clemson University Art Department and Center for Visual Arts Scholarship Award .  He is taking the Building the Fox Canoe with Bill Thomas.  As the course description informs: “Fox is a decked, double-paddle canoe, a boat intended for protected waters and lakes. Fox boasts two water-tight compartments for storage and flotation and a comfortable seatback and caned seat. She is 14-foot 7-inches long with a beam of 30 inches and a finished weight of just over 40 pounds. Each student will build a boat using CNC-cut parts and the stitch-and-glue method. We’ll have them ready to float at the end of the workshop (paint and varnish will be added at home). We’ll also build simple double paddles.”

Bill Thomas is a studio artist and small boat designer who has taught ar the WoodenBoat School (ME), Chewonki (ME), Lowell’s Boat Shop (MA), and as an online course instructor at Craftsy and Off Center Harbor.  He is a registered Maine Guide and leader of kayaking and sailing classes.

Also in Sumer Session I, Emily Tucker (BFA in Art alumna, drawing emphasis, 2016) will take the Nature Notes workshop in drawing and painting from Robert Johnson and Ken Moore.  Emily received the Windgate work-study scholarship.  As stated in the workshop description: “The workshop will be taught by a botanist and an artist whose work centers on the natural environment. We’ll cover a simple method of taking notes and sketching in the field using a portable kit that contains everything students will need. We’ll take field trips to beautiful natural areas to learn about the plants and ecosystems of the Southern Appalachians. Back in the studio we’ll study botanical specimens and produce small watercolor paintings from the sketches made during our excursions.”

Robert Johnson is a studio artist who has taught at Haystack (ME), Arrowmont (TN), and Penland.  He has received a NEA/Southern Arts Federation grant and several North Carolina Arts Council fellowships and grants, and he is represented by Blue Spiral gallery (NC). Ken Moore is a botanist and the assistant director emeritus of the North Carolina Botanical Garden.  He has taught at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, and Penland.
In summer Session 2, June 12-14, we have:

Patrick Owens (BFA in Art candidate, printmaking emphasis) received a work-study scholarship from Penland.  He will be taking the letterpress workshop "Kern, Baby, Kern" with Colin Frazer and Eleanor Annand.  According to the description, “Through the medium of letterpress printing, students in this workshop will build a visual awareness of typography. We’ll explore letterforms and their composition in space, how typography helps readers navigate text, the expressive qualities of type, and the history of typography and printing. Students will become familiar with hand-setting type, typesetting on the computer, polymer plate making, and machine-carving (CNC) type. We’ll get our hands dirty while making beautiful typographic prints.”

Eleanor Annand is the creative director at 7 Ton Design and Letterpress (NC); teaching: Asheville Bookworks (NC); Penland Core fellowship; exhibitions: Blue Spiral (NC), LIGHT Art+Design (NC). Colin Frazier is a designer at The Service Bureau (TX) and professor at Montana State University.  Hi work is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Ogden Museum (New Orleans).

In summer session 4, July 10 - 22, 2016, Deighton Abrams (MFA candidate, Art, ceramics) will serve as a Studio Assistantship for the Clay with a Life of Its Own workshop taught by Esther Shimazu.  The description reads: “In this workshop we’ll make detailed expressive figures using standard pottery handbuilding techniques (pinch, coil, and slab). Working with stoneware, students will begin with a small maquette and then compose their figures from hollow clay body parts with individually modeled teeth, fingernails, and toenails. We’ll pay particular attention to heads, hands, and feet. For fun and contrast, we’ll use porcelain for eyes and teeth. Students will learn strong joinery techniques to allow for unique gestural expressions.”

Shimazu is a studio artist who has taught at: Anderson Ranch (CO), Santa Fe Clay, and Penland, with selected exhibitions at Kunstform Solothurn (Switzerland), Robyn Buntin Gallery (Honolulu), and the Craft Alliance (St. Louis).  She is represented by John Natsoulas Gallery (CA), and her work is in the collections of the Honolulu Museum of Art, St. Louis Art Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, Kutani Collection (Japan), and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

Also in Sumer Session 4, Lexi Mathis (BFA in Art alumna, drawing emphasis, 2016) received a scholarship from the Clemson University Art Department to take Goedele Peeters Figure Drawing to Printmaking workshop.  This course description reads: “Each day of this intensive workshop will include several sessions of life drawing with a model, including full-body drawing, portraits, and anatomical studies. We’ll draw on paper with charcoal, watercolor, pastel, ink, bister, and other media. Then we’ll work in the print studio to translate these drawings into prints through drypoint, monotype, and linoleum cuts with relief stencil.”

Peeters is a Professor at the Municipal Art School Kontich and Berchem in Belgium, and has also taught at the Hochschule Kunst & Design in Switzerland),the  Cultural Center Tripoli in Libya), and the University of Michigan.  Prof. Peeters exhibitions include the International Print Center (NYC), International Print Triennial (Poland), and Gallery Pinsart (Belgium).

For more information on Penland, please go to: http://penland.org.

For more information on the Clemson University Art Department's degree programs, please go to: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/departments/art/