Penland School of Craft News.

Architect William Hoffman of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been selected as artistic coordinator for a new collaborative structure to be built on the campus of the Penland School of Crafts, located in Western North Carolina. Supported by a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, the project will bring together craft artists from many disciplines who will be responsible for every aspect of the structure.

Hoffman was chosen by an advisory committee made up of Verne Stanford, Director of the School; Hunter Kariher, Assistant Director and two members of Penland’s Board of Directors, Susan Larson and Mark Peiser. He maintains an arts and architecture studio and gallery in Fort Lauderdale and has taught interior design at the Art Institute there.

The collaborative environment is based on the Bauhaus approach, which stove to bring together all creative efforts into one whole as inseparable components of architecture in which there is no distinction between monumental and decorative art. The structure at Penland School will provide a better understanding of excellence in design and craftsmanship and will give Penland students a living classroom in which to study the integration of architecture and craftsmanship.

The construction of the building will also be a laboratory learning experience in the time-honored craft of timber frame construction in which wooden joints are designed for massive timbers. Jeffrey Arvin and Craig Aument from Riverbend Timber Farming in Blissfield, Minnesota, will conduct a workshop at Penland School from April 10-28, 1989, in which students will learn the technique by framing the collaborative structure and enclosing it using stress-skin panels.

Since 1920, the materials and techniques of building construction have moved away from craftsmanship and have been designed to avoid intensive labor. With this project, Penland School hopes to demonstrate the difference in feel when every component is designed and crafted and where there is significance in what might appear to be the least important aspect.

Different craftspeople will carve timber and paneling; weave fabric for drapes, bedspreads and upholstery; forge hardware and ironwork; design and produce lighting fixtures, tableware, wall decorations, pottery and sculpture.