"Arrowmont’s workshops are designed to provide creative opportunities for anyone who wants to learn new skills and be energized and inspired. Weekend, one-week and two-week sessions offer a concentrated experience of working in a professionally equipped studio with dedicated and talented instructors and other students. Students of varied experience levels, ages, and backgrounds work side-by-side, exchanging ideas and techniques. The power of focused time together results in new thinking and artistic growth for all. Workshops are open to students 18 years old or older, at all skill levels unless indicated otherwise in the course description. Instructors are national and international practicing studio artists and faculty at colleges and universities. Workshops are small, generally 10-12 students of varying experience and age but with a common goal of working hard, learning new skills and being creative."

View the 2016 catalog on Issuu.

Read through the full course descriptions for 2016 workshops here.

"Penland School of Crafts is an international center for craft education dedicated to helping people live creative lives. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Penland offers one-, two-, and eight-week workshops in books & paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking and letterpress, textiles, and wood. The school also offers artists' residencies, community collaboration programs, and a gallery and information center."

Click here for complete course and registration information for all Penland workshops.

The 2016 catalog of classes is now available! Click here to see the full details on each and every class Pilchuck is offering this summer! To view a PDF of the catalog, click here.

New this year! Each of the six sessions is defined by a theme, evident in the content of each class, and the work of the artists in residence.

Save the date! Applications for students, teaching and artist assistants, seasonal staff, and campus assistants will be due before midnight, February 3, 2016.

By Jesse Bacon, Catalyst Director at Social Impact Studios.

Jesse says: I have an especially close relationship with glass. When I was growing up, my parents sold glass for greenhouses and windows. I’ll always choose glass: both my water bottle and coffee mug—my constant traveling companions—are made of glass.

Because glass is commonplace and transparent, we can literally see right through it, and perhaps overlook it. We might miss that all glass goes through a remarkable transformation—silica melted at temperatures of up to 2400 degrees Fahrenheit. It is this property, which you could call magical, that has fascinated Peter Patterson, who has been a glassblower for decades. My interview with Patterson continues below.

Being a studio artist can be a lonely business.  Long hours alone are punctuated occasionally by contacts with suppliers, clients, exhibitors, colleagues, but basically, time is spent with the process and materials of making.  If you don’t teach at an educational institution or work in a cooperative space, the opportunity for community is not readily available.  You have to look for it.