In our opening meeting at Penland School of Crafts, the director pointed out that the benefit of a workshop like this was the ability to focus solely on creating.  Meals were prepared, clean up was taken care of, and we were relatively isolated without the distractions of every day life. Most Penland sessions are two weeks long but this final summer session was only one so the time was compressed. For me, this singular focus and short amount of time added to the challenge of working in a new way with a different material.  Long story short: I learned many things about myself, met a lot of wonderful & talented artists but didn't master the art of steel wire sculpture!   I was stretched in many ways during this week-- we spent 12+ hours a day in the studio and were constantly interacting with the other 200 artists in the school. It was exhilarating and exhausting!  For me, it all came together on the last morning when I took a hike up into the mountains alone and let the experience sink in.  I made this tiny cairn at the top to signify my appreciation of the power of small things.  I am grateful for the time I spent at Penland where I didn't learn what I expected to but instead learned so much more.