Seventeen staff from the ANU School of Art are in North Carolina running a two week summer school at the Penland School of Crafts.

For the first time for both Penland and the School of Art, craft and design lecturers are running classes there en masse. All of the School of Art’s craft and design Workshops are teaching sessions, including glass, textiles, photography, ceramics, furniture and gold and silversmithing.

“We are positioning our teaching in Penland the same as our undergraduate and postgraduate programs at ANU,” says Associate Professor Denise Ferris, Head of the School of Art. 

“We’re taking our style of education and practice-led research there, rather than adapting to Penland’s teaching style. It’s not just about skills, but about traditional arts and crafts but being used in a contemporary way and thinking through materials.

“They were really excited about our educational philosophy of practice-led research, the standard of our research, and how that would translate in the Penland context.

“While all of us from ANU are teaching different things, we’re all banded together by an educational ethos.”

Penland, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, is an international centre that teaches short intensive courses, bringing people together in a beautiful and isolated environment for the duration of their studies. 

While Penland brings artists and teachers to its school from all over the world, this is the first time they have hosted such a large contingent from one organisation.

“We’re excited to have this group of instructors bring their educational philosophy to our workshop format. We’ve never done anything like this before, and we’re looking forward to unanticipated surprises and benefits,” says director Jean McLaughlin in the brochure on the summer program.

Associate Professor Ferris will teach a course in physical photography with graduate student Matt Higgins.

She specialises in nineteenth century photographic techniques, but says it’s important not to get too caught up in the technical aspects of photography.

“For us it’s never just about the skills, it’s about the body of work that talks about concepts through materials,” says Ferris.  

“I practice these old world techniques, but I’ve never practised this for the skill itself. I’m only interested when it’s parlayed to a concept or an idea, and is about pushing those ideas further.

“That might not seem so revolutionary, but I think all of us together with this research and practice mentality is something different for Penland.” 

See the full list of ANU staff and workshops taking place in Penland