by Emolyn Liden, Programming Operations Assistant on February 18, 2010
in Featured Teacher
Kaleidoscope class with David Baker
This week is a time of celebration for David Baker’s Kaleidoscope Class. It all started Sunday night with Valentine’s Day when the students arrived at the studio and the walls were covered in red heart fabric. Everyone was invited to take a treat from under the white Valentine’s tree covered in Cupid’s feathers decorated with heart-shaped ornaments.
In a normal celebratory week Monday is Moo-Moo Monday, then Tu-tu Tuesday, Wacko Wednesday, and Tip the Hat Thursday. But, different plans were in order for Fat Tuesday! The students started by making mardi gras party scopes by putting mardi gras beads inside the end of the kaleidoscopes. “We celebrate in order to better remember the moment,” David said. After class, the students dressed up in green and purple robes with masks and beads and paraded through the dining hall to “When the Saints go Marching in.” It’s all about sharing the laughter.
by Emolyn Liden, Programming Operations Assistant on February 17, 2010
in Studio Tours
Studio Row is a place on campus where, in one twenty-yard stretch we have the Enameling, Clay, Woodcarving, and Jewelry Studios as well as the outside wood-fired and gas-fired kilns.
Recently in the Enameling Studio Tony Prince inspired his students to make miniature glass animals in the “Free-Form Flamework” class. In his demo Monday evening he made a mini wasp that looked like it could spread its wings and fly. Inside the studio, the hot kilns and friendly conversation created an inviting workspace.
Next door in the Clay Studio the students were busy throwing at the wheel. During the week they discussed their work with instructor Vince Sansone in the class designed for intermediate to advanced students to tweak techniques and hone skills.
Just across the way, the woodcarvers chipped at wood blocks in the “Focus on Faces” class with Chris Howard. By Thursday, when I stopped by, the students had shaped their blocks of wood into lifelike faces and were working on the finer details.
At the end of the Row, instructor
Sheryl Koch was teaching how to make flat paneled stained-glass lamps. The next time these students curl up on the couch to read a book they will read from the light given off by their own handmade lamp.
While the close proximity of the studios in the row is a place where people bounce ideas in many mediums, it’s important to look outside the studios as well. Truth be told, part of living as a full-time or recreational artist is the need to be supported by others and whether you decide to be a professional or a hobbyist, arts and crafts thrives from understanding of why it is important to create. The beauty here has inspired photographers and painters for years. The round hay bales have appeared in photos, paintings, poems, and quilts; the flower gardens the same. The dining hall staff shares their understanding by having hot food ready and waiting three times a day. The music classes play for students and our local musicians volunteer to play for the Tuesday night dances. The cooking classes hand out samples to the office staff and to students at Show-and-Tell. The writing classes give readings on Thursdays so that others on campus can put down their tools and sit in a comfy chair to listen. The grounds and maintenance crew salt the sidewalk and fix leaky faucets while yoga classes and massages de-stress, relax, and strengthen. All of these aspects, visual, verbal, tactile, aromatic help create an atmosphere that can inspire.
Our very own Folklorist David Brose has been doing a show on one of our local radio stations that I think you should know about.
Folklorist David Brose outside the History Center
On WLSB 1400 AM and WYHG 770 AM on Saturdays from noon to 2 pm, David presents a 2 hour show called “The Mountain Valley Homecoming” that features 18 years of live recordings from the Folk School – from Friday night concerts, Monday nights with David Brose, Fall Festivals, and anything in between. Wow! This is the real stuff, folks. Tune in!
If you can’t get it on your radio, you can stream it live on www.wyhgradio.com. (click on the Listen Live icon at the top right)
And, beginning this Sunday, February 14, David is beginning a new show called “Stax of Wax” (wax being the old radio DJ slang term for 33 1/3 record albums). This show will air weekly on Sundays on 95.1FM from 7-9:00 pm. The format for this show will be jazz, blues, rock, Americana, Roots music – pretty much everything and anything (except for opera, apparently).
David gave us a preview of his upcoming Valentine’s Day “Stax of Wax” show. He says, “By the by, if you are a baby boomer you will love my Valentines Show–love songs by: Van Morrison, Temptations, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, The Stones, The Band, B.B. King, and many more favorites.” You can listen to this station online, too, if you’re not local: www.951.fm.
Even though I’m not a baby boomer, I think I’ll love it too. And David says he’ll talk about upcoming Folk School happenings, so that makes the listening even better. Congratulations, David – it sounds to me like you’re Singing Behind the Plow! I’ll be tuning in this weekend!
by Sue Fruchey, Marketing Assistant and nature enthusiast on February 12, 2010
in Folk School Folks
Robert and Olivia Anderson (and Sophie) sit in their new rock garden during the vendor setup evening at Fall Festival 2009.
I began noticing changes happening in the wooded area at the base of the Red Rail last summer, where Robert and Olivia Anderson, both Folk School instructors and part-time local residents of Brasstown, were spending big portions of time. They were moving rocks and pulling out plants that had no business being there (the really nasty, weedy ones like poison ivy, brambles, and bittersweet). Always with smiles on their faces and sturdy work gloves on their hands, they’d wave at passers-by like me and give cheery hellos as they continued their work.
I talked to Olivia about the project recently, and in all, she and Robert have spent over 100 hours working on creating this new rock garden (!), and plan to dedicate time to the future maintenance of this area. The story behind the project, as was explained to me by Olivia, is that they had volunteered to help maintain the Dining Hall ponds and fountains last spring. After a while, Olivia was looking at the bigger picture for the area, and she discovered a unique, “out-of-place” rock.
1930s photo of the Keith House - note the large rock in the foreground.
She inquired with Anna Shearouse, our archivist, and together, they discovered an old photo (circa 1930) showing a similar, large rock near the Keith House. It’s quite possible that Olivia’s rock is the same one, just displaced – perhaps in the creation of the permanent path to the Dining Hall. Olivia and Robert used this special rock for the inspiration and centerpiece of their new rock garden.
The result is head-turning, and certainly worth noticing. What once was a weedy area that got soggy and wet when it rained has become a lovely outdoor sitting area. There’s a picnic table, a new pond with a fountain, the weeds are gone, and the culvert that existed before for water drainage was recovered!
A big thank also goes to Earl Tipton, one of our maintenance crew, for transporting the new rocks (donated by Tim Ryan) to the new rock garden site.
In talking about the project, Olivia was delighted to see people at Fall Festival last year sitting in the new rock garden, playing music, eating, and visiting with friends. She said of the hard work that she and Robert put into the project, “It was SO worth it!”
They plan to continue maintaining the rock garden in the future. If you see them working on it please thank them! We sure do appreciate their transformative contribution to the Folk School grounds.
by Emolyn Liden, Programming Operations Assistant on February 11, 2010
in Featured Teacher
Hi, I am Alan Leland, a professional woodturner and one of the many Woodturning instructors at the John C. Campbell Folk School. I first discovered the Folk School through Doug Barnes who was the JCCFS resident woodturner for many years. I took my first class at the Folk School in January 2004 with the intent of experiencing the Folk School and to get a feel for how classes were run and to see if my teaching techniques and personality would be a good fit with the atmosphere of the school. Fortunately for me, Doug Barnes was willing to offer me a class and my life has become more open and fulfilled ever since. I always look forward to spending time at the Folk School, as it is one of the highlights of my life.
Woodturned mushrooms by Alan Leland
My first experience at the lathe was in a Windsor Chair Class that I took in 1989. Shortly thereafter, I purchased a mid-sized lathe with the intent of making chairs and soon discovered the multitude of things that could be turned on a lathe. Then in 1995, my job making crate style furniture for This End Up Furniture Company was eliminated and the lathe and woodturning seemed to take over my life. I joined a local woodturning club and shortly thereafter became a member of the American Association of Woodturners. My active involvement with the local and national organizations soon led to my demonstrating and teaching at regional and national symposia, where I was well received. I started to write articles on woodturning and began to develop a basic skills and techniques curriculum which I now teach at the Folk School and elsewhere. Along with the curriculum, I supply my students with a 50 plus page lab manual that is chock full of handouts on different skills and techniques but also includes many handouts on fun and interesting projects that build upon the skills being taught in the class.
Woodturned ornament by Alan Leland
I am known in woodturning circles for my Hollow Globe Ornaments with their delicate and elegant finials and for my very attractive and comfortable Three Legged Stools. Recently teaching has become a large part of my business. I do a bit of architectural turning when I can and design many pieces of furniture that have at least some turned parts. I lean more toward the functional side of woodturning but have a good eye for shape and form and do, at times, slip to the arty side of woodturning by adding color and texture to my work. In general, I prefer to bring out the best that Mother Nature has put into a particular piece of wood and to create an object that will become a family heirloom.
Three Legged Stool by Alan Leland
Alan Leland will be teaching at the Folk School again in July 4-9 (week) and July 9-11 (weekend.)
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