Penland, NC

Penland, NC

Wednesday, 24. April 2013

‚Toledo/Ohio, are you sure you want to go there?’ This was the question we got the most when we said where we wanted to go next. Absolutely – because of the beautiful glass pavilion there, which gives you the feeling of almost working outside and is a really interesting building. Immediately opposite is the Museum of Art and in this community everything is easy-going and we have been made very warmly welcome. For one day we have worked separately – Louise assisted our host Charlyn, while Franca helped Adam Goldberg who runs a studio in town. Charlyn makes mostly sculptures from glass and so on this one day, they made lots of crabs. At the end, Louise tried one herself and in the evening the cooling chamber was crawling with crabs.

Franca helped to make bowls and sanded the bases, which is a challenge with every new sanding machine. Friday we continued with our hitchhiking experience in the USA and made our way south - finally to some sunshine in North Carolina. As it was Franca’s birthday on Sunday we made a little detour to a festival in the area. We met up with one of our friends from Corning there in order to celebrate her birthday. After the festival we travelled further west to Penland in the mountains. Here, there is a sort of ‘Summer school’ with courses in glass making, forging, book binding, printing, pottery, painting and photography. Now we have the chance to relax, enjoy the sun and process some of our new experiences.