I dropped my bag onto the bathroom floor and closed the door behind me. As I pulled off my jeans and stepped into a silky red halter dress I’d borrowed, I overheard the instructor telling her students, “The model is in the bathroom getting ready.” This was the first time in my life I’d ever…
Category: John C. Campbell Folk School
Playing with Fire
This week at the John C. Campbell Folk School, I took a glass bead making class with Lynday Huneycutt. This class was held in the Enameling Studio located on Studio Row. First, we outfitted ourselves: The apron is to protect me from flying shards of glass – which thankfully don’t happen too often if you…
A Visit to the Woodturning Studio
As if it weren’t already hard enough to choose which classes I’d like to take, here’s something that makes it harder: studio visits. Anytime there are classes going on, anyone can go into the studios to see what’s happening. If you happen to find yourself in Brasstown, NC (though this is not a place one…
Student Arrival
Yesterday, I moved in. Today, the new students moved in. They’ll be here until Friday taking classes in everything from soapmaking and weaving to blacksmithing and banjo playing. They come from as far away as Maine and California, and as close as Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Actually, it can take 8 hours to drive…
Beginning at the End
At the end of every week at the Folk School, everyone gathers in the Community Room of the Keith House to display their finished works and admire the works of others. It’s quite impressive what people can accomplish in just one week of class. Here are some pictures I took yesterday: Doll making class with…
A Stop Along the Way
As we fiddled with the buckle across the toes on a pair of sandals, I said to the saleswoman “Well, once we get it right, I hope I never have to change them again.” “If you do, you could just come back,” she responded. “Well, I’m actually moving to North Carolina,” I said. “Oh really? …
And She’s Off!
“How long does it take to get down there?” he asked as I piled boxes and bags into my car. “Well, I think it’s 12 hours or so, but I’m taking two and a half weeks,” I told him. “Two and a half weeks?” he asked, his eyes wide with amazement. “Yeah – I’m stopping…
Decisions, decisions
How is it that one chooses fourteen classes out of one hundred forty? This isn’t like college where a lot of the classes are “required” and in some area that is of no interest to you. No, the John C. Campbell Folk School is a place where nearly every class is of interest to me. …
How to Plan A Road Trip – Backwards
“I start on July 30th,” I said to Lois. “Oh. I’ll be there the week before taking a class – can you get there a little earlier? We can have dinner at the Copper Door again,” she offered. Dinner at the Copper Door is not something one turns down. So though I’m not officially due…
All levels welcome
The class is called “Building a Garden Shed.” I don’t have a garden. Nor any property on which to put a garden. In fact, I’ll be living “on the road” for the next year, so it’s inconceivable that I will need to know how to build a garden shed anytime in the near future. Despite…
RenaissanceRebecca 