August post went away.
I had a post here for August and I seem to have deleted it. I think the gist of it had to do with my 2 and a half week stay at the Penland School in North Carolina.
I went there to attend a class they were giving on lighting entitled: Beyond Neon. I have a project that I intend to finish now that I have taken the class that I needed a light source for. I thought a neon type light would be perfect for that application.
My first rendering of ANYTHING. Rhinocerous has a Mac beta version that I have been using. Very cool stuff and way more user friendly then AutoCAD.
Anyway, I digress. The class was a great experience. It wasn’t cool enough that it was in Penland NC, but it had some really cool instructors and teaching assistants. The students also added some very interesting ideas to the class and presented some cool challenges that were solved by the staff.
Wayne Strattman giving a class demo on borosilicate tubing work.
Wayne was one of the teachers and is a world renown high voltage lighting expert. His glass working skills are pretty incredible. He gave a lot to the class in the way of time and personal knowledge. He really helped those that were interested in pushing the ideas they had.
One of the great things about Penland is the fact that you are able to really immerse yourself in the art environment. Next door to our studio was the hot glass studio and those guys were doing some really great work.
Pouring molten glass in the Hot Glass studio.
David Wilson is a Penland area artist and electrical engineer. He was a very hands on instructor and gave a lot in the way of personal time, equipment, experience and ability. He took the time out to give each student a session in the hot shop blowing a glass object.
David Wilson doing his thing. Julie Kumar looks on. Julie is probably one of the most talented three dimensional artists I have met. She was constantly challenging the instructors with her ideas.
David Wilson also was instrumental in getting everyone to participate in the class projects and Renegade Neon projects.
David mounting student tubes in the class sculpture.
Student Mary Sue and visiting artist Ken, sewing student project in the weaving studio.
The student project during the day.
Glass sculpture on the knoll at night.
The TA’s during our session were the best. David Smith came to set up the shop and did some great demos on neon work. He was also able to spot problems we were having with the borosilicate work and knew just how to help us overcome them.
David Smith demoing in the Neon shop.
Chris Coyle, another area artist practitioner of Neon, was up early and stayed late everyday making sure the tubes were right. She gave so much of her time and knowledge. I probably would have had a difficult time getting through there without her being around.
Last morning at Penland
Tags: Chris Coyle, David Smith, David Wilson, Julie Kumar, Paul McClelland, Penland, PM Custom, Rhino OSX, Wayne Strattman