For my STEP project, I traveled to Arrowmont School of Craft for a two-week workshop on traditional hand-tool woodworking. During this workshop I received instruction from professional woodworker Sabiha Mujtaba on technical skills, then developed a project of my own. Outside of class time, I met other students and working artists, and we traveled to several arts institutions in the region.

 My time at Arrowmont expanded my technical skills in wood, allowing me to create more expressive and proficient work. I received nine hours of small-group and individual instruction in technical skills daily, which allowed me to rapidly improve my facility with wood. Our conceptual focus was on the use of decorative relief carving to create an illusion of perceptual depth. My woodshop instruction at Ohio State has been oriented around rapid prototyping and structural armature construction for work in other media, but my coursework at Arrowmont was much more concerned with the expressive potential of wood as a final medium. Sabiha guided me through the use of several tools that I found intimidating, which greatly built my confidence. With the technical skills I developed at Arrowmont, I feel much more able to express my creative ideas in wood.

Alongside my technical developments, I was exposed to a diverse set of professional artists who gave me creative inspiration and insight into potential career steps. Around sixty teachers and students were staying on campus during the time I was there. Communal living, dining, and recreation spaces encouraged all of us to get to know each other, and most attendees were happy to exchange artistic ideas. The workshop was a great opportunity to meet other college-age artists as well as new professional mentors. 

I spent a good deal of my free time with the other college students. Since there were multiple workshops going on, we had a wide range of material interests. There were jewelers, printmakers, ceramists, and many more ways of making represented. Even when we were off campus exploring the nearby Smoky Mountains National Park, we were discussing our projects at Arrowmont and back home. It was transformational to be so surrounded by people who were thinking about their creative practice as much as I do. The school’s culture of total immersion into work meant that we spent most of our free time during the weeks in the studios, either working on our own projects or visiting other artists. This allowed for a deep sense of collaboration and cross-pollination between studios. I learned much more than just woodworking – I got to stoke a wood-fired ceramic kiln, see how table legs are turned on a lathe, and watch the mesmerizing process of hand weaving on a floor loom. All of this new material knowledge will inform my research in the final year of my BFA and show me potential paths I can turn down in the future.

The close-knit community at Arrowmont also allowed me to bond with instructors and staff. My instructor Sabiha and lathe turning instructor Beth Ireland were both highly engaged with the woodshop students. They were excited to ask us about our progress and plans, and offered plenty of wisdom from their own experience. On the weekend between the two weeks of class, they led a field trip for the wood students to Knoxville TN to visit local galleries and discuss the work we saw. Both instructors were also glad to discuss how they made their careers as working artists and manage to support themselves doing the work they loved. My conversations with Beth especially affirmed that there is a place in the world for the work I want to create. Based on these mentor relationships, I have created a more specific plan for the types of work I will apply for after graduation, and how I can leverage my creative skills to meaningfully improve the communities I exist within.

I went to Arrowmont with the expectation that I would forge professional and personal connections, build my technical skills, and clarify my plans for the year ahead. In all of these respects, my project was a success. I feel much more confident preparing for my senior exhibition armed with the knowledge I gained this summer. Additionally, I wanted to see if craft schools were an environment where I would want to work in the future. I learned that I thrive in the immersive, hands-on community of craft school, and I have compiled several internships and positions at Arrowmont and other similar schools that I will apply for next spring.