Penland School of Crafts Summer 2009 Catalog

I was feeling a little depressed after today’s eye appointment and the melancholy feeling grew when I pulled the new Penland catalog out of my mail box. I immediately recognized the artist Béatrice Coron‘s work on the front cover – a glorious paper cut of Penland with people working in all of the little studios dispersed across the North Carolina mountain side. She has been on my list of artists I want to study with for well over a year now.

I openly accept and hope that I can’t make it to Béatrice Coron’s class, The Cutting Edge, which she is teaching the week that I am due. But if I were you, I would seriously scrape together all of your vacation time and spare change to spend the two weeks cutting with her. Penland was the very best experience of my life, next to getting married. I am hoping the birth of my child will top that this spring. But still, GO! Seriously. I have no idea why I waited to ten years to go. Don’t make the same mistake that I did.

And if paper cutting is not your thing, then you should carefully spend time looking at all of the descriptions and find something that makes your heart flutter just a teeny bit. Think of it as an investment in “your heart, soul, mind, spirit,” as Mr. Pei says. Each class describes the welcomed skill level, so you have nothing to fear.

And if you do go, please email me so that I can look at all of your pictures/blogs/updates online. I am sure that I will be a little busy, but still incredibly interested.