The John C. Campbell Folk School

 Two weeks ago I went to the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina for a 5 day open workshop with my Temari teacher, Barbara Suess.  I signed up for this workshop because I have been working on my Level 1 Honka Shuuryou certification and am preparing the Temari that will be submitted to the Japanese Temari Association. 

To read about the course work for my certification follow this link, this post is about my time at the School.

I had an early, direct flight to Atlanta and from the airport I took the arranged shuttle to the school in North Carolina which meant I had to wait about 4 hours before the van departed; I had time for breakfast and to read some but IF I go again, I think I will rent a car and drive myself. The shuttle cost was not that much less expensive and having a car, or access to one, while at the school gives you the opportunity to drive off campus to see some of the area and eat out (more on this later).

The drive to the school took about 3 hours and it was enjoyable since we all were going to the school and there were 3 other Temari workshop students as well. Among the 4 of us there was 1 newbie and 3 experienced temari makers and as for attending the school it was 2 and 2;  so we talked about the school, temari we had done and the workshop.  Upon arrival we checked in, when to our respective rooms and then gathered back in the main house for the welcome meeting.  After that is was off to dinner and a quick meeting with Barbara. 

Here are the pictures I took Sunday 

For the next 5 days it was breakfast at 8 am, workshop from 9 am to Noon, lunch, more workshop from 1 pm until 5 pm, dinner and open studio from 7 pm until 9 pm.  I spent most every moment sewing temari to get the most out of my time there. Now for the details.

In the workshop we had 12 students and 2 teachers - Barbara and her assistant Dana. There were 6 students who were newbies and 6 of us that were not; and those of use that were experienced ranged from advanced beginner to intermediate stitchers; with me working on my Level 1 certification and another student working on her Level 2 certification.  We positioned ourselves around the table by skill so it was easier for the teachers to work with each group.  We all introduced ourselves and set off to working on Temari.

Eventually Barb and I met to discuss the temari for my certification and then "we" realized that I had gotten it wrong; I did not have to make 4 more temari to submit, the temari that would be submitted would be from those I had already stitched during the course work! We selected 3 temari that I had stitched; I had my laptop with me and all the pictures of all the temari. For the 4th temari, I would have to stitch a new ball since the ones I had stitched were to simple.  

Over the next 4 day I stitched 4 temari including the new temari for my certification and a small temari sewn along with the rest of the class in a pattern called swirls.  

Every day I walked everywhere from my room at one end of the campus to the dining hall and then to the classroom and back and forth and up and down hills. I wore my fit bit and I was walking about 4 miles per day. Along the way I took the following pictures in addition to the ones at the top of this blog post.

As for the school and my impressions of the place - I had a wonderful time except for the meals. The campus is beautiful, the staff and other "campers" were nice but the food was barely adequate. Every meal is served family style but it was always at room temperature - NOT HOT and sometimes I would not say it was cooked. The weather wasn't cold-cold but one morning it was 33 F outside and breakfast was eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy all of which at room temperature and gravy had congealed! And if you were unfortunate to sit at a table with more men than women, well lets just say there might not be much left in the serving dishes when they were passed to you. Yes, we could go to the kitchen and get more BUT each meal really was a bit on the skimpy side. For dinner one night I didn't eat what was severed and just made a PB&J sandwich - what was served was a pork ragout with sweat potato gnocchi. The gnocchi were not and didn't even taste like a sweet potato; I did not even attempt the ragout!

Would I go back - yes but I might not stay on campus nor take the meal plan, let alone the airport shuttle. Your experience may be different.

To close, here are some pictures from the last day exhibition displaying some of the work from the other workshops.