Penland School of Crafts / Inspiring Artist

I’m registered to take a week long class at Penland School of Crafts in, North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Penland School of Crafts is a national center for craft education with a long history of providing experiential education in the art of making. I’m going at the end of August to take the class Developing a Public Art Practice with Nancy Blum. Here’s the description from their website -“This workshop will explore the transition from private studio practice to public art practice. Students will be exposed to the possibilities of the field through lectures, conversations, and exercises tailored to each individual’s creative work. Through group and individual discussions, students will gain insight into how their own strengths as makers can be used to address public art opportunities. The workshop will be helpful to artists at any level interested in learning about public art. For those with a developed art practice, it will address the specific possibility of seeing their art exist in public spaces.”

I’m sharing this because, I’m super excited and I want to get the word out there is still time to register for summer classes. Check here to see what classes still have openings. Classes are offered in Books and Paper, Clay, Drawing and Painting, Glass, Metals,Photography, Printmaking, Textiles and Wood with amazing instructors.

I’ve been dreaming about an art retreat for some time and then this opportunity came to my attention exactly when I was ready to take the leap. I’ve been talking to people here and there about my desire to start applying for public art commissions. I had just sold some paintings and was feeling flush when I saw an ad for Penland. I went to the website and came across this course. I’ve been researching artists doing public works (you can see my post here) and have been seriously thinking  about how I could translate my work into art for public spaces.

In this post I’d like to share the work of the course instructor Nancy Blum. I’m really impressed with the different materials her work has been translated into. I can’t wait to take this class with her and learn from her experiences. On her website her work is divided into 3 categories, Drawings, Public Art and Sculpture. All of her work incorporates her admittedly obsessive repetition of patterns and forms found in nature.

Here’s one more drawing of nature’s beauty and pure lushness. Visit her website to indulge in more of her beautiful work.