Arrowmont - Part I

I'm late in posting photos of my book arts week at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and here's the first installment. Arrowmont is not tucked away in the countryside, as are some other craft schools (such as Penland, for example). It's smack in the midst of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. But, if Gatlinburg isn't for you, no problem. Once you get on the grounds, the surrounding area disappears. I ventured out on the night of my arrival for a scoop at Ben & Jerry's, and that was as much as I wanted to see of Gatlinburg until I left a week later. For those who what a change of scenery, though, there are options literally right outside the Arrowmont gateway. There are the usual tourist attractions, and some students in my class who'd visited Arrowmont before had found places to hike and swim close by.

The week was one of the hottest of the summer to date, so I was glad to have an air-conditioned room. Not all of the accommodations have AC, and I'm usually fine without it, but this time it was particularly welcome. It helped that the studios were air-conditioned too.

Students arrived on Sunday in time for dinner -- nearly 100 people were there during my class week. We had two hours of class that evening, during which book artist Carol Barton walked us through the curriculum for the week and started us off with some simple pop-ups.

I'll say more about the book arts class in future posts. For now, here are some pix to set the stage.
(Note: Unfortunately, as I wrote this, the Arrowmont web site wasn't letting me into the page of the site that lists instructors for the 2007 summer session. As soon as I can get access them, I'll note the names of the artists whose work I've shown below without attribution.

The library. This facility was totally unexpected, and I enjoyed spending time here late evenings after class.

A mixed media piece by instructor and textile artist Heather Allen-Swarttouw,
from whom I took a creative journaling class at BookWorks.

A view of one corner of the photography studio as seen from the catwalk that surrounds several of the studios.
The class was in pinhole photography. I was fascinated by the variety of containers that the students used to create their pinhole cameras.
One of the photographs by the instructor of the pinhole photography class, on display at the Instructors' Exhibit.

The instructor of the textile class, Text and Textiles, created this large piece, also in the exhibit, from family letters printed onto fabric, complemented by painted panels. This is a detail.
Another detail.

A cloth and fiber snake in a tree near the dining hall.

More to come.