Mary Hallam Pearse, Associate Professor of Art and Area Chair for Jewelry and Metals, will be teaching a two week class, Jewelry Narratives: Collecting to Casting, at the Penland School of Craft from June 11 to June 22. 

Pearse's students will tackle the conventions of jewelry while engaging with metal casting. They will explore and cover centrifugal casting, wax working, hollow-form casting, plaster mold-making, and casting stones in place, plus metal working basics from sawing to soldering. Although there will be finished pieces, the workshop will focus on developing narratives, exploring the meaning of jewelry and its relationship to the body, and the possibilities of casting metal. Students will achieve this by bringing a small box of artifacts and ephemera—from found objects to photographs, clippings to stories. They will use these collections to generate ideas, forms, and meaning. 

Founded in 1929, Penland School of Crafts is an international center for craft education dedicated to helping people live creative lives. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Penland's mission is to support individual and artistic growth through creative practice and discovery. Penland's cirruclium includes courses in mediums such as books, paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking, letterpress, textiles, and wood. 

Pearse received her MFA in Metal from SUNY New Paltz and a BFA in Jewelry and Metals from Kent State University. Her work as been exhibited at the Rhode Island College in Providence and at the International Contemporary Jewellery Fair in Amsterdam. Pearse has taught workshops at the Anderson Ranch, 92nd Street Y, Kent State University, Humboldt State, East Carolina University, and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Her work is represented by J. Cotter Gallery in Vail and Beaver Creek Colorado.