Penland 2013, Day 2

I can’t believe it’s been a year since my first magical Penland experience and contrary to what has been posted here, I have made a lot of stuff, including an encaustic portrait series (work in progress–I’ll post here when I’m further along).  In the meantime, it’s July and I’m once again living the dream at Penland. This year I decided to take a class in the Metals Studio and after the first full day I’m sensing that I chose wisely. Yesterday (day one) I rolled in, unpacked, met my roommate (who is awesome), checked out the studio (amazing!), and met my instructor (also awesome).

Today we got a crash course in enameling (clean metal, add adhesive, sift enamel, fire, repeat). Our only task today was prep a few white enameled pieces for our assignment tomorrow (painting with enamel!). Doing so, we got a handle on how to use the kilns, clean and cut metal, use the flex shafts, &c.

Arthur Hash, the instructor, is all about using technology in his work, and while I know we’ll be learning many traditional enameling techniques, some hints have been dropped about exploring using more technology in our work… Exciting!

Clockwise from top left: “Penland is a Dream” illustration carved into one of the picnic tables at the coffee shop; the view from my workbench if I could see through the wall (my view looks out slightly to the right of this view); the view of the upper metals studio from my workbench; one of the pieces prepped for tomorrow’s lesson.