Penland School of Crafts is located in Penland, North Carolina and was founded as a national center for craft education. Lucy Morgan established the school’s craft roots when, after attending Berea College for some months in 1923, decided to revive hand-weaving.
She organized the Penland Weavers and Potters craft group, and was eventually able to establish a working craft school. Penland School of Crafts now offers classes in the Spring, Fall, and Summer in a variety of media, including pottery, glassblowing, metalworking, weaving, as well as painting, photography, and printmaking; however, academic degrees are not awarded. The classes are taught by visiting professors and artists from all around the United States. The school also offers a rigorous and solid community for those who participate in the Resident Artist Program.
Lucy Morgan founded Penland School of Crafts, and is shown here in the Weaving Cabin, c. 1935, University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill, Bayard Wooten photograph
Left: The school is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina and sponsors residencies for emerging and established artists.
Jennifer Gerardi photograph
Right: Furniture makers and friends, Garry Knox Bennett and Wendell Castle collaborated at Penland School of Crafts in 1995, Courtesy of Penland School of Crafts
The Bringles talk about Penland School of Crafts: its roots, foundation and current classes.
