Tryon Arts & Crafts School is pleased to announce several new and exciting classes and workshops for the Fall 2 period (Oct. 30 to Dec. 8) in the mediums of jewelry, pottery and weaving. Classes meet once a week for three hours and workshops vary in time, most meeting once. 

Ashley Gilreath of Spartanburg will be instructing a new course called Fields of Light:  Cloisonné Enameling on Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. Cloisonné is a process in which silver wires are formed and twisted to create small cells in which the artist will fuse particles of colored glass. Students will learn several enameling processes, color theory, and tricks to create an illusion of depth.  Ashley is a graduate of the Metal Design program at East Carolina U in Greenville, has been an Artist-in-Residence at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee.  Her jewelry has been featured in several publications and collections.   

Advanced Wheel Throwing with David Zacharias will be taught on Tuesday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  This class will focus on the use of calipers for combining thrown parts into more ambitious end products and for fitting a variety of different types of lids.  Students will start with making a set of cups or bowls, and pots with lids will follow.  Lastly will be pots made from parts made separately and combined together, exploring sculptural and functional solutions.  David’s has an MFA from the University of South Carolina , and since 1972, he has had 23 one-person exhibitions, been in over 100 group exhibitions and over 70 juried competitions from local to international in scope.

Suzanne Monroe and Priscilla Yeager will be instructing a new Beginning Weaving course on Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m.  Students will learn the parts and setting up of a loom, and will make a scarf or table runner.  Suzanne and Priscilla have 20 years of weaving experience between them and both are members of the western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild.

These courses are in addition to TACS’ regular class offerings of Beginning to Advanced Silversmithing with Danielle Miller, Ron’s Way with Clay with Ron Ponce, Stained Glass with Petra Brooks, Weaving with Kris Schweikardt, Beginning to Intermediate Wire Wrapping with Daniel Wilcox, Lapidary with Robert Orr and Wood Turning with Jim Mellberg.

TACS has workshops coming up in making metal clay origami earrings, a wine basket, wire-wrapped ring, felted scarf, miniature cottage tree house, kaleidoscope, stained glass candle holder, fused glass sculptural relief, fused glass and alcohol ink holiday ornaments, a wire-wrapped holiday tree, and carving holiday bird ornaments, all on various dates from now until Dec. 9.

To learn more about these classes and workshops, visit tryonartsandcrafts.org or 828- 859-8323.

– submitted by Cathy Fischer