Creations by Various Folk School Students, Quilts, Scarves, Wooden Trunks, and More--All Hand Crafted

     When we took a week of classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina, Mark in clay pots thrown on a pottery wheel, me in hand-painting silk scarves, we joined dozens of others in about 12 different classes. At the end of our time there, we all gathered for a show of the many creations produced by students during the week. The entertainment at the gathering included country and folk classics played by a string group from the fiddling class that also met all that week. 

     Seeing the results of the excellent teaching and focused student efforts was amazing and inspirational. A commenter on this blog to one of my previous silk painting posts (thank you, Rosemary) suggested that I must have been Donna Kassab's "star pupil". Not so! (although I appreciate the compliment) All the students' scarves were lovely. One of the delights of working in a small class with other creative people is observing their varied approaches to using the medium. The first three photos show the hand-painted silk scarves exhibited by our class members at that end-of-the-week show. Sadly, two women had to leave early, and their gorgeous scarves were not available for the show. Still, I think you will get a sense of the differing original designs, the use of color in varied ways--and, hopefully, get a taste of how stimulating it is to learn and create with others at this excellent "art camp for adults".

     The group that made wooden trunks had begun the weekend before, choosing the type of lumber each would use and beginning the rough assembly. Then, they alternated between the wood shop and the blacksmith shop completing the trunks and applying layer after layer of finish as well as hand-forging the hinges and clasps. You see one trunk made by the husband of a silk painter--he used red oak, and she painted a red oak themed scarf to display with it. 

     For the rest, you see lovely quilts displayed behind the trunks (each made in one week!), wood turning products, hand-made glass beads, and the gathering for our final ceremonies and celebration. Click on any photo to see it larger. Thank you for viewing this post; I have loved reliving a super time. For earlier posts about our silk painting class click here.

 
 









Question of the day: What sort of class would you take, given the chance?