a room for disaster, 2026 site-responsive installation in collaboration with Charlie Ryland at Penland School of Craft Bakersville, North Carolina (scroll down for more info)
handmade paper (cotton), white oak Installed at the 1948 toll house, Penland School of Craft
This work is installed in a breezeway that was destroyed during Hurricane Helene in September 2024, and is a community response to the memory of that storm — and a redirection of the same powerful force that recently wreaked destruction across the Blue Ridge Mountains.
During Penland’s 2026 spring concentration, Nicholas Cladis (teaching papermaking) and Charlie Ryland (teaching woodworking) brought together students across Penland’s campus for public papermaking and woodworking events. At these workshops, students and faculty carved the wooden dowels and made the paper that would become the pinwheels.
A massive shout-out to the 2026 two-month spring concentration cohort at Penland. What a fantastic group of people responsive to cross-pollination (affectionately referred to as ‘side quests’). And of course, many thanks to collaborator, friend, and co-instructor (we didn’t know each other before this) Charlie, who was so excited by the concept and ready to contribute. Now new collaborations are in the works, made possible by our experience at Penland.
Finally, this work — and successful programming during this session — would not have been possible without Penland’s supportive staff. This installation remains at Penland as a consistently changing work; the pinwheels are gradually being replaced by students of subsequent papermaking workshops.
