Penland School of Craft

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Penland School of Craft Workshops | Residencies | Gallery. Center for craft education in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains since 1929.

👀 In the Penland iron studio 👀Three weeks into a six-week concentration with James D.W. “Coop” Cooper (James D. W. Coope...
10/19/2026

👀 In the Penland iron studio 👀

Three weeks into a six-week concentration with James D.W. “Coop” Cooper (James D. W. Cooper), there’s plenty to see.

Coop brings decades of experience as a blacksmith and a deep appreciation for the natural world. Taking inspiration from plants and organic forms, students are exploring the expressive possibilities of forged iron—moving and shaping hot metal, creating textures, forge welding, and experimenting with joinery and color.

Some are beginners, while others have been working with metal for years. Everyone is building skills and pursuing their own ideas.

Thanks to this great group of students for letting us take a peek and share some of their work. Can’t wait to see how everything turns out.

Want to experience a concentration at Penland? Enrollment is open for spring 2027. In the iron studio, we’re excited to welcome Sophie Glenn for eight weeks of making, learning, and exploring what’s possible with metal. Find out more at penland.org. Link in bio.

Announcing 100+ craft workshops for Summer 2027!It’s our biggest workshop announcement of the year, with opportunities t...
10/15/2026

Announcing 100+ craft workshops for Summer 2027!

It’s our biggest workshop announcement of the year, with opportunities to spend four days to two weeks making and learning in Penland’s studios.

Visit https://penland.org/workshop-search/?season=summer to see who’s teaching...

10/09/2026

On “getting away with” her signature porcelain teeth, Esther Shimazu says:

“First it was just regular stoneware, then it was white stoneware, and now it’s porcelain. You slowly find out what you can get away with. And porcelain, of course, looks the best.”

Esther is a widely admired Hawai‘i-based ceramic sculptor known for her exuberant, round-bodied figures, full of humor and attitude. Drawing on her Japanese American heritage and everyday life, she creates wonderfully expressive characters, complete with painstakingly made porcelain teeth and eyes.

We’re thrilled to welcome Esther back to Penland after her fall 2024 workshop was canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. She’s finally here, sharing decades of technical expertise, inventive techniques, and her delightfully irreverent approach to making.

Want to experience a concentration at Penland? Enrollment is open for our Spring 2027 Concentration…

Eight weeks to immerse yourself in the studio, learn from extraordinary teaching artists, and see where your work takes you.

And there’s more on the way… We’re announcing 100+ summer workshops on October 15, with summer scholarship applications open October 15–November 16.

Explore spring workshops and sign up for our mailing list at the link in our bio.

6 weeks ⛰️👐✨💭These seven extraordinary teaching artists have settled into Penland’s iron, metals, clay, wood, textiles, ...
10/06/2026

6 weeks ⛰️👐✨💭

These seven extraordinary teaching artists have settled into Penland’s iron, metals, clay, wood, textiles, glass, and print studios to lead our 2026 Fall Concentration workshops.

A concentration is a long-form, immersive workshop—and six weeks changes the rhythm. There’s time to learn new skills, put them to work, and then keep going. To experiment, make mistakes, change direction, and develop ideas, and have an instructor there to offer guidance as the work evolves.

Week one has been full of demonstrations and hands-on learning. We’re thrilled for the students who get to spend the next five weeks learning from these artists—and we’ll be following along.

Meet the instructors and see what’s happening in the studios →

P.S. Now enrolling for Spring Concentration 2027

How learning to weave begins.In the first days of Amanda Thatch six-week fall concentration, students are dressing their...
10/02/2026

How learning to weave begins.

In the first days of Amanda Thatch six-week fall concentration, students are dressing their looms—carefully getting hundreds of warp threads into place and under even tension before weaving can begin. Warping a loom is a whole thing, and it’s pretty cool.

Weaving has been taught at Penland for generations. There’s something special about seeing another group start at the beginning, learning how the loom works and how thread becomes cloth.

These students have six weeks ahead of them. From these fundamentals, they will move into pattern, color, dyeing, and plenty of exploration of their own.

Amanda’s goal is for them to develop enough fluency at the loom that it becomes a partner in thinking about structure, use, and meaning.

Amanda is simply the best: deeply knowledgeable, grounded, personable, and generous. Once upon a time, she was Penland’s textiles studio coordinator. We’re so glad to have her back.

Registration opens October 1 for Spring Concentration 2027—eight weeks to go deep and make real progress.Penland’s conce...
09/30/2026

Registration opens October 1 for Spring Concentration 2027—eight weeks to go deep and make real progress.

Penland’s concentrations offer focused time in the studio: the chance to go deeper into a material, develop new skills and ideas, and discover what sustained making can open up.

Meet the teaching artists joining us for Spring Concentration 2027:

Visit https://penland.org/workshop-search/?season=spring to explore spring workshops, including our 4-day short session.

Two years after Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina on September 27, 2024, we remember the people near and fa...
09/27/2026

Two years after Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina on September 27, 2024, we remember the people near and far who helped Penland and our neighbors.

Here in Mitchell County, staff, neighbors, and artists living and learning at Penland cut through fallen trees to reopen roads.

Some students sheltered through the storm and left when they were able. Others departed early, giving up part of their time at Penland to stay safe and ease the demands on a campus responding to an emergency.

Penland’s dining hall became a place to find meals, water, power, and connection with one another. Neighbors brought in a satellite connection so those sheltering could tell their families they were safe.

Friends near and far checked in, shared information and resources, sent messages, and gave generously. Their gifts helped us keep paying our staff and teaching artists, feed neighbors, and respond to urgent needs.

That support made it possible for Penland to recover and return to the work we’re here to do: bringing people together to make and learn.

For those who lived through Helene, this time of year can bring back memories we feel in our bodies. The changes in the landscape bring them back, too.

So many trees fell across Mitchell County. Two years later, there is more blue sky where the canopy once stood, and the forest is slowly growing into the light.

We remember the lives lost and the homes and familiar places changed by the storm. Recovery continues for many in our region. We’re grateful for everyone who cared for this community and continues to care for it.

09/26/2026

Nneka Jones | Art approaches embroidery with a painter’s eye, building figurative portraits through layers of color and texture.

In the Penland textiles studio, students learned how stitch direction can create form and texture, how colors can be matched and blended, and how felted wool roving can add dimension to embroidered works.

It was a delight to learn with Nneka (Nneka Jones | Art) and to watch each student make the process their own. Embroidery asks you to slow down and pay attention: four days of stitching, experimenting, learning something new, and enjoying the first views of fall from the studio.

Want to learn at Penland?
🧵 Spring 2027 workshops are now enrolling
☀️ 100+ Summer 2027 workshops will be announced October 15

Make something beautiful with your hands this spring.Each Penland workshop grows out of a guest teaching artist’s own pr...
09/24/2026

Make something beautiful with your hands this spring.
Each Penland workshop grows out of a guest teaching artist’s own practice and their approach to sharing it.

For our 2027 Spring Short Session, we’re delighted to welcome:

🏺 Studio Touya and Takuro Shibata
🧵 Leigh A. Hilbert
🧺 Lynette D. Youson
🪨 Alicia Dietz Studios
🪟 Joseph Cavalieri
⚒️ Phyre Forge
📄 Jiyoung Chung
💍 Cat Bates
🎨 Lara Call Gastinger

Spend 4 days learning new skills, exploring materials, and making alongside these incredible teaching artists.

Spring workshop registration opens October 1.

Explore the workshops: https://penland.org/workshop-search/?items=18&session=spring-2027-short-session

Address

67 Doras Trail
Penland, NC
28765

Telephone

+18287652359

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