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The Core Show 2022

 

Lars, Molly, Lisa, Celia, Mo, Lilly, Tony, and Sarina.

A highlight of every year at Penland is the annual exhibition of work by our wonderful core fellows. The core fellows are students who spend two years at Penland taking workshops throughout the year while also doing part-time jobs for the school. Every October they curate and install an exhibition of their recent work. This year’s show is title STONEFRUIT, and it opened at Penland’s Gallery North on October 7. It will be up until November 11, so if you are nearby, you still have a week to see this excellent show.

Opening night of the core show always begins with a special supper for the artists. This year the meal was prepared by metals studio coordinator Nadia Massoud, studio operations manager Daniel T. Beck, and glass studio coordinator Nick Fruin. This is followed by an opening reception at the gallery (with desserts supplied by staff and community) and a salute to the core fellows by programs manager Courtney Dodd.

Programs manager Courtney Dodd salutes the core fellows.

Thanks to Sarina Angell, Molly Bernstein, Lisa Nguyen, Maria Fernanda Nuñez, Tony Santoyo, Celia Shaheen, Lars Shimabukuro, and Lily Wilkins for their tireless contributions to life of the school, for their marvelous spirit, and for their inspiring art work. Here are some pictures of the show and a sample of each person’s work.

Tony Santoyo, Interlude, acrylic and pastel on unstretched canvas, 56-1/2 x 64-1/2 inches
Lisa Nguyen, Cat Nap Tunnel, ash, baltic birch, glass, 20 x 28 x 15 inches
Sarina Angell, 100 Nuts, hickory nuts, mixed media, found materials, 44 x 4 inches
Sarina Angell, 100 Nuts (detail)
Maria Fernanda Nuñez, “Not all is not enough”, wood, denim pulp, 60 x 60 x 48 inches
Lars Shimabukuru, fish trap, ceramic, lashed reed, 31 x 20 x 19 inches
Lily Wilkins, Traffic Island, wool, cotton, silk, canvas, 24 x 24 inches
Celia Shaheen, This old ceremony carries me home, handwoven and blockprinted cotton, earthenware, 15 x 67 inches
Celia Shaheen, This old ceremony carries me home (detail)
Molly Bernstein, Benni Goes to Work!, papier mâché, flocking, acrylic, steel wire, phone cord, grommets, 72 x 42 x 24 inches

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The Penland Auction Was a Great Success!

We did it! The 37th Annual Penland Benefit Auction is a wrap!

We are proud to say that our biggest fundraiser of the year was a great success! Keep scrolling to see a slideshow of the fun!

We celebrated craft.

The 37th Annual Penland Benefit Auction was a wealth of riches. It is an honor to connect the superb work of contemporary makers with thoughtful, enthusiastic collectors and supporters of craft.

We raised important funds.

The Penland Auction is our most important fundraiser of the year, supporting our mission of making lives meaningful through making.

Here are some preliminary numbers we are excited to share:

  • $394,959.65 has been raised for Penland!
  • We exceeded our Fund-A-Need goal, raising $105,500.

In honor of the United Nations International Year of Glass, this year’s “Fund-A-Need” will fund an upgrade of Penland’s ventilation systems in its glass hot shop and flameworking studios. Thank you so much to everyone who donated!

We honored special folks.

Nancy Blum, David Chatt, Paul S. Briggs, and Mark Peiser were honored at this year’s auction. We are so proud to have had the opportunity to highlight their work! We will be sharing some of the kind words spoken about Mark Peiser with you soon.

We had so much fun!

What a pleasure it was to host our friends on campus last weekend, reconnecting with you in person! Thank you for sharing with us! Please enjoy the slideshow below:

 


Thank You!

Hundreds of people and organizations come together to create the Penland Benefit Auction. It is a huge undertaking and a labor of love. Thank you so much to everyone who gave of themselves to make it a great success! Thank you…

 

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Nancy Blum: Exploring Interconnectivity

Drawings by Nancy Blum
Nancy Blum, Black Drawings 31, 72, 28, and 158, colored pencil and graphite, 12 x 9 inches each

Nancy Blum–one of the featured artists in this year’s Penland Benefit Auction–is known primarily for large-scale botanical drawings and her public artworks. These include a remarkable suite of floral tile mosaics at the 28th Street subway station in Manhattan and an installation of monumental, botanically-themed windows at the San Francisco General Hospital. Nancy was first trained in ceramics, and she loves collaborating with the skilled craftspeople who execute these projects.

Her contributions to this year’s auction, however, are entirely the work of her own hands. She describes these “Black Drawings” as “playfully rendered depictions of scientific imaginings and abstractions of the natural world.” This series, she says, explores the interconnectivity of all living beings. Nancy’s drawings and sculptures have been shown in venues across the U.S. and in recent solo exhibitions at Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, VA and Ricco Maresca Gallery in New York City. Her work is found in many private and public collections including the World Ceramic Exposition Foundation in South Korea and the Boise Art Museum in Idaho.

To learn more about Nancy and see more of her work, please watch the video below (videographer: Nikki Appino), or visit her website (but watch the video first).

Penland’s Annual Benefit Auction takes place on August 26-27, 2002 with online bidding on many pieces continuing through September 2. Nancy’s drawings will be sold in the live auction on August 27 and in the online silent auction that runs from August 28 – September 2. Complete auction information here.