Adventures in Metalsmithing: My Week at Arrowmont

Two weeks ago, I took a metalsmithing workshop at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Tennessee. The course was all about rings, and I absolutely loved it. My class was cozy (there were 6 of us, plus the teacher and TA), and the teacher was amazing. Not only did I learn a ton, I was also able to get a lot of hands-on experience.

It was also inspiring to be around so many talented artists at Arrowmont. There were a handful of other classes going on at the same time as mine in topics such as chair making, woodturning, basket weaving, pottery; and there were artists-in-residence living on campus who were very talented. Every night there was a lecture or demonstration from each of the instructors, showing off their work. Like I said, it was inspiring.

There’s too much to fit into one post, so I’ll be spreading my tales of Arrowmont across several blog entries (hope you don’t mind!).

Thought I could start by giving you a tour of the school. If you follow me on Instagram, a lot of these pics will look familiar!

The campus is made of a couple buildings + the dorms. The building on the left is the main building, which houses the supplies store, library, museum, and a couple workshops (including the metalsmithing one!).
The museum in the main building shows off off the work of local artists, including pieces from a couple of the instructors.
The library. Cozy, and still uses card catalogs (paper form).
The dining hall building was also where the teachers stayed; this is the teacher’s lounge.
The red barn is actually a dorm.
The artists in residence lived at Arrowmont for a year or so. They spent their time developing their talents and pieces. Each artist had his or her own studio, which was pretty awesome. This one belongs to the woodworking resident.
A bit of yarn art that I found on campus!
And finally, my metalsmithing classroom, aka my home for the week. It was equipped with everything you’d ever need to do metalwork, of course!

I’ll be posting more about my week at Arrowmont, so stay tuned!