Tag Archives: Blue Ridge Mountains

Studio soulfood

My friend Jessica and I had the opportunity to teach a letterpress class at Penland last year. For one glorious week we got to immerse ourselves in Penland’s unique studio culture. Somehow these folks seem to have figured out the secret to bringing out an artist’s best work.

Step one: put them in a beautiful, rural setting (with spotty phone/wifi so as to avoid distractions).

Step two: provide them with top-notch studio equipment—

—and lots of work time to get sucked into the deep end.

Step three: take care of their basics human needs.

Room and board are part of the deal at Penland—but while the housing is simple and spare, the food sure ain’t. I wrote “three squares a day” in my sketchbook, but it’s really more like “three dodecahedrons a day.” Just like a hearty meal might sustain a farmer on a harvest day, I think the secret to creative genius might just be a piping hot bowl of cheese grits and a dish of apple Brown Betty.

This Yankee is here to tell you: you can’t beat Southern cookin’ for surviving a long day in the studio.

Pathfinder

The winding river channels in the sketch I posted on Wednesday reminded me of the unusual hiking “trails” they have on the campus of the Penland School of Crafts. They’re just mown right into the grass of the huge central meadow in front of the school. From up the hill, it looks like some sort of fairy maze.

Considering the otherworldly haze of the Blue Ridge Mountains surrounding the spot on all sides, I’d believe it.

Have a seat

I don’t know if there’s something about the Blue Ridge Mountains, or about the pace of life in the mountains of the South, or what. But whenever I had a free moment during my visit to Penland last summer, I had an irresistible urge to sit back in a deck chair and stare out into the hills.

Good thing there was ample opportunity. North Carolina is chock full of comfy, inviting chairs and gorgeous views—as soon as I saw that, I knew we were going to get along famously.