Arrowmont--Part 2--The Class

I have admired Paula Kovarik's quilting and stitching for several years, and when I saw that she was teaching a week-long class at Arrowmont, I made my plans to be there. It involved driving to Jackson, flying to Knoxville, and an expensive taxi ride from the airport to Gatlinburg, Luckily, sewing machines were furnished although having one's own is preferable. The large classroom gave the 14 students plenty of work space and room for discussions and sharing around a table. Paula gave us exercises and instructions, and we tacked our pieces on the walls so we could see each student's work and follow progress.
The emphasis was on LINE--the properties of a line, what it can do, how it can lead the eye around an artwork, how it can tell a story. To capitalize on this, we worked primarily in black and white-- white thread on black, and black thread on white, as well as a variegated black-to-white thread, which resulted in unusual pieces. We did some group work such as drawing a line on paper and then moving to each station to react to the last line placed there. We also used a line to react to a word prompt, adding to each other's line. One exercise was called "slow build," meaning to start with a line and react to it over and over to slowly build the composition.
We came home with lots of exercises and sample stitches.  I like the slogan that "Product is for the ego; Process is for the soul."

Lots of room to work

Paula commented and critiqued our pieces

I wish I had done this one!

Some of my exercises

We filled the wall; Paula is on a chair tacking mine up

After lots of black/white work, we stitched on a piece of drop-cloth; Paula liked mine!
Holly, my table mate kept incorporating color in her pieces.

The Dining Hall had coffee cups made at Arrowmont--I wanted to steal this one!

The week was instructional and inspirational. An unexpected plus was meeting and forming strong friendships with several people. I was one of the few first-timers; most had been to classes several times, taking a variety of classes. I highly recommend this school for learning and an all-around good time!