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October Issue
2008
Center for Craft, Creativity &
Design in Hendersonville, NC, Features Works by Edwina and Cynthia
Bringle
The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design in Hendersonville, NC, will present the exhibition, Celebrating the Bringle Sisters: Clay & Textile Mentors, an exhibition of work by textile artist Edwina Bringle and potter Cynthia Bringle, on view through Dec. 5, 2008. These sisters have dedicated much of their lives to teaching and influencing innumerable students. This exhibition celebrates their contributions by exhibiting select works from throughout their lives.
Twin sisters Edwina and Cynthia Bringle were born in Memphis, TN, in 1939. They were the first of five children. They began taking art classes early on. Though their individual paths have taken them to different places, their love for the mountains and their roots in the South have always kept them close to Penland, NC. The Bringle sisters have been leaders in the North Carolina craft movement, moving to North Carolina approximately 30 years ago.
Edwina Bringle is known for her woven textiles and her free motion embroidered pieces. She was first introduced to weaving in 1964 when she took a handweaving class at Penland School of Craft. She later taught handweaving at UNC-Charlotte for 24 years. During this time she also occasionally taught classes at Penland. Following her retirement from UNC-Charlotte, she joined her sister who was already living in the Penland community. At Penland School of Craft, Edwina has been a resident artist and has taught frequently since 1969. She also helps run a gallery with her sister. Her work is in the collections of the Greenville Museum of Art and the North Carolina Museum of History.
Cynthia Bringle is a very well-known potter, whose teaching and mentoring has been embraced by potters all over the world, many who have gone on to be highly regarded in their own right. She has lived and worked in the Penland community since 1970 and is known for her functional pottery of all shapes and sizes. In high school and beginning college she thought she wanted to be a painter until she took a pottery class and became intrigued by the process.
Cynthia Bringle earned her BFA from Memphis Academy of Art and an MFA from Alfred University. During that time she also took classes at Haystack School in Maine from potters such as M.C. Richards, Toshiko Takaezu, and Ed and Mary Scheier. After finishing college, she returned to North Carolina and began teaching classes at Penland School of Craft. There, she was instrumental in developing the ceramics program with the director at that time, Bill Brown. Cynthia still enjoys living in Penland where she teaches occasionally and runs the gallery with her sister. In the past few years, she has also returned some of her attention to painting and printmaking. Though clay has been her choice medium throughout her career, painting and decorating pots has always been one of her favorite parts of the process.
Potter and sculptor Michael Sherrill states: "When I was new to my art and struggling to find my own way, there were many potters working in my part of the world, but there was no one like Cynthia Bringle. Cynthia's doors were always open, her willingness to share and teach provided others and me leadership and showed me how I could model myself. The fact that she was making pots and making a living made me believe that it might be possible for me to do the same. Cynthia made pots that were based on utilitarian pottery, but treated them as one-of-a-kind objects. This creative playfulness is, in my opinion, Cynthia's hallmark. Her example has helped me to embrace the idea of continuous experimentation with my own work."
"Many of you know that a woman by the name of Lucy Morgan helped to found Penland School," Sherrill continues. "Her mission was to improve the quality of life for the families living in the Appalachian Mountains. She thought that there wasn't a better way to accomplish her goals than to use the skills and talents of the people that she wished to help. I can think of no other person that has lived up to that ideal better than Cynthia Bringle."
Jean McLaughlin, Director of Penland states: "Edwina was my first weaving instructor and introduced me in 1973 to the world of textiles. She is an extraordinary teacher - clear, precise, calm and patient. When a loom needs fixing or a warp thread breaks, she has a solution. Encouraging words come when most needed. She enables you to stretch beyond the limits you might initially set. Through Edwina you'll observe colors and textures in your surroundings with fresh eyes. Her work warms your body and delights your soul."
In speaking of the Bringle sisters contribution to Penland, McLaughlin also states: "The Bringle sisters are gifts to Penland School of Crafts and our students and community. They are extremely generous with their time - as volunteers, advisors, mentors, teachers, and friends. They bring a kind of humor, tenacity and grit, wisdom, history, and stability to the life of the school. All that in addition to the beautiful work they produce!"
Both artist will give a talk on Oct. 9, 2008, at 5pm.
The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design is an inter-institutional center of the University of North Carolina, located 5 miles west of Hendersonville, adjacent to the UNC Asheville Kellogg Center. Visitors are invited to walk the Perry N. Rudnick one-mile nature and public art trail following a visit to the exhibition in the Craft Center galleries.
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Center at 828/890-2050 or visit (www.craftcreativitydesign.org).
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