Teaching

A little bit about me and why I started teaching.  My “Craft” Journey started in earnest in 1988 when I attended Penland School of Crafts for the first time as a student.  The energy that I was involved in at Penland was something I had not been exposed to before.  I was hooked.  All of the great studios, faculty and students in a setting like Penland is a perfect recipe for maximum creativity. 

I continued to attend Penland in the summertime during Undergraduate and Graduate School.  I was able to secure scholarships’ and work study through Penland which made attending much more affordable.  A bit later on in my studies I applied for and was accepted to be Teaching assistant for a few great instructors at Penland.  The next logical step was to Propose a class of my own and I was honored to teach my first class at Penland in 2000.  I had previous experience teaching undergraduate courses at Tyler School of Art while I was a Graduate student there and also taught Classes at the Cheltenham Art Center which was close to Tyler.

Over these many years I have been exposed to so many great instructors, students and staff and am so very honored to be “faculty” now.  Later on, I had the opportunity to teach a Semester Abroad for the University of Georgia at their Cortona Italy Extension School.  Then came the proposal writing to try and teach at other schools that I knew about.  I have been back to teach at Penland a couple more times, also Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Touchstone Center for Crafts, Mendocino Art Center, Thomas Mann teaching Studio, and Wildacres plus other opportunities.

I discovered that sharing the knowledge of your craft and getting students excited about making is something quite special.  My work is concentrated in fabrication, repurposing of materials and rule breaking.  I have enough knowledge of the metals studio that I feel there are no limits.  Metal has become “soft” and immediate in my hands just like the clay of a potter.  I look forward to sharing as often as I can with new and returning students and keeping the craft alive.  Making and creating are like breathing, I can’t live without any of them.

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in learning more about what I do and having me teach for you institution. I have also included a couple of sample class proposals, images of my students work and some class pictures.I look forward to hearing from you.

-David