Penland School of Craft

Penland School of Craft Workshops | Residencies | Gallery. Center for craft education in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains since 1929.
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One of the best times to be at Penland.Warm days, cool nights, late-summer flowers, the first hints of autumn color, and...
06/10/2026

One of the best times to be at Penland.

Warm days, cool nights, late-summer flowers, the first hints of autumn color, and pollinators still busy across campus.
Add an incredible group of teaching artists and a lineup of exciting workshops, and it’s easy to see why Fall Short Session is a favorite time of year.

These photos were taken last September during that brief overlap of summer abundance and early autumn color.
Swipe through to meet this year’s teaching artists—and imagine yourself here this September. 🍂

Now enrolling:
• Summer Sessions 4-7
• Fall Short Session
• Fall Concentration

Tina Curry helps students of all experience levels create remarkable animal sculptures.We’re excited to welcome Tina bac...
06/09/2026

Tina Curry helps students of all experience levels create remarkable animal sculptures.

We’re excited to welcome Tina back to Penland this fall for what promises to be an inspiring 4-day session in the clay studio.

Known for her patient, encouraging teaching style, Tina breaks the process into approachable steps while helping each student develop their own creative vision.

Using reference photographs, basic anatomy, and handbuilding techniques, students learn how to transform observations into sculptures full of personality and character.
Whether you’re new to clay or an experienced maker, Tina’s methods provide a strong foundation for creating expressive animal forms.

A full-time ceramic and bronze sculptor based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tina has spent more than twenty-seven years creating imaginative animal sculptures. Her work has been commissioned by the Knoxville Zoo and the Calgary Zoo, featured in Ceramics Monthly, and collected by animal lovers around the world.

These photos from Tina’s previous Penland workshop offer a glimpse of what’s possible when skilled instruction, close observation, and imagination come together. We can’t wait to see what this year’s students create.

Creative Animal Sculpture
September 20–25, 2026
Teaching Artist: Tina Curry

Now enrolling. Visit https://penland.org/workshop/creative-animal-sculpture/ to snag your spot…

Ring molds are simple tools with expansive possibilities. 🏺Teaching artist David Eichelberger makes full use of them in ...
06/04/2026

Ring molds are simple tools with expansive possibilities. 🏺

Teaching artist David Eichelberger makes full use of them in his studio practice, and this spring, students in the Penland clay studio explored their possibilities alongside him.

Usually made from plaster or bisque-fired clay, ring molds help ceramic artists create consistent curves and repeatable forms. But as David demonstrates, they’re about much more than uniformity.

By pressing slabs into ring molds, artists can quickly establish structure and then begin altering, combining, stretching, and reshaping forms into something entirely their own.

Seen here: students made their own molds and used them as a foundation for experimentation, exploration, and improvisation in the Penland clay studio.

Visit https://penland.org/what-are-ring-molds-a-practical-guide-from-the-clay-studio/ to read more about ring molds and how they’re used at Penland.

For more than twenty-six years, John Renick—known throughout Penland simply as "Big John"—helped feed this community.But...
06/03/2026

For more than twenty-six years, John Renick—known throughout Penland simply as "Big John"—helped feed this community.

But anyone who spent time here knows he did much more than that.
He welcomed new students, mentored work-study participants, played music, made people laugh, remembered names, and helped create the sense of community that makes Penland feel like home.

As Big John leaves Penland and begins a new chapter with his partner, artist and educator Mary Hallam Pearse, we're celebrating the friendships, mentorship, and care he shared over twenty-six years at Penland.

As Big John puts it, "The best part is watching everybody grow."

Our latest blog shares stories, memories, and photographs from Big John's time at Penland.

If you've ever spent time with Big John or made memories at the Pines dining hall, we'd love to hear your favorite memory.

Visit thttps://penland.org/what-big-john-taught-us-about-community/ to read the full story.

❤️ Thank you, Big John.

Burlap fresco is a way of bringing an ancient painting technique off the wall and into the studio.Traditional fresco is ...
06/02/2026

Burlap fresco is a way of bringing an ancient painting technique off the wall and into the studio.

Traditional fresco is made by painting pigment and water directly onto wet plaster. As the plaster cures, the color becomes part of the surface itself, creating an image that is embedded in the plaster rather than sitting on top of it.

In a recent workshop taught by Justin Tyler Bryant, students created fresco panels by applying lime plaster to burlap and painting while the surface was still wet.

The process offers artists a surprising amount of flexibility. Burlap supports can be made in a range of sizes and shapes, while different plaster mixtures can influence texture, working time, and the final surface.

How it works:
1️⃣ Prepare a burlap support.
2️⃣ Apply a thin layer of wet lime plaster.
3️⃣ Mix powdered pigments with water.
4️⃣ Paint directly onto the wet plaster.
5️⃣ Complete the fresco before the plaster dries. Once the surface cures, it stops accepting pigment.
6️⃣ Let the plaster finish curing, locking the color into the surface itself.

Seen here: burlap fresco experiments from the Penland studio.

06/01/2026

Wishing you a creative and productive week from Penland. 🌿

Session 2 is underway, and artists from across the country have arrived to spend the next two weeks making, learning, and sharing ideas in the studios.

Welcome, teaching artists:

BOOKS


CLAY




DRAWING & PAINTING


FLAMEWORKING


HOT GLASS



IRON


METALS



PAPER


PHOTOGRAPHY


PRINTMAKING


TEXTILES




WOOD

Happy retirement, Robin Dreyer!For more than thirty years, Robin shaped Penland's communications through photography, wr...
05/29/2026

Happy retirement, Robin Dreyer!

For more than thirty years, Robin shaped Penland's communications through photography, writing, editing, and storytelling.

He photographed artists at work, captured moments of celebration and connection, and documented the everyday life of the school through words and images. Along the way, he created an extraordinary record of this creative community.

Our latest blog celebrates Robin's remarkable career at Penland and includes a selection of some of his favorite photographs taken here at Penland.

Visit https://penland.org/pay-attention-seeing-penland-with-robin-dreyer/ to read the story and see Penland through Robin's lens.

Spots and scholarships are still available for Penland Kids Camp! 🎨🌿✨This summer, young makers ages 4–17 can spend a wee...
05/22/2026

Spots and scholarships are still available for Penland Kids Camp! 🎨🌿✨

This summer, young makers ages 4–17 can spend a week exploring clay, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, fiber, movement, nature, and more alongside inspiring teaching artists and new friends.

Penland Kids Camp is a joyful introduction to creativity, experimentation, and making things by hand in the Blue Ridge Mountains—and a few spaces are still open for this summer’s sessions.

Visit our https://penland-school-of-craft.jumbula.com/home to learn more and register.

Address

67 Doras Trail
Penland, NC
28765

Telephone

+18287652359

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