Carol Stangler

The New Bamboo: Tools and Techniques

Course Description
Participants in this workshop will explore the myriad artistic possibilities of bamboo, a renewable natural material rapidly making its way into Western landscape, art, and decor. Bamboo basics of sawing, splitting, joining, attaching, and finishing will be presented, along with various techniques of surface alteration. Participants will use bamboo and its organic design elements to create objects, including functional sushi trays, sculptural containers, and woven window screens. The course will include a harvesting expedition to a nearby bamboo grove.

Artist's Biography
Carol Stangler is an environmental artist who began weaving baskets and sculptures from natural materials 25 years ago in Atlanta. In 1990 she began working with bamboo, and ten years later she wrote The Craft and Art of Bamboo: 30 Elegant Projects for Home and Garden. She teaches bamboo workshops throughout the country, and she lives and maintains a studio in Asheville, North Carolina.

Artist's Statement
Bamboo’s exotic physical properties delight and challenge me. No two poles are exactly alike. Each has its own graceful curve, its unique set of parallel rings. My work is to isolate, rearrange, and highlight those portions of bamboos that attract my attention. Its cylindrical form is my favorite element: in a square world, round sings.