There are 17 of us!
Hello Newbern and hello Rural Studio friends, we are the Fall 2024 3rd-years! We want everyone to get to know a little bit about the new kids in town with a game of question roulette. We asked 4 questions to each person and scrambled the answers here on the blog. Can you guess which answer goes with which students? And can you figure out the questions before looking below at the answers?
| Ella, from Aurora, IL | Go-go Squeeze |
| Ashley, from Sumter, SC | Frankie |
| Daniel, from Enterprise, AL | Cycling Mountain Bike |
| Hadley, from Dripping Springs, TX | Architecture |
| Eliza, from Chesapeake, VA | Sophie |
| Sophie, from Houston, TX | 1 Eggo |
| Emma, from Cincinnati, OH | None for me |
| Rylee, from Jacksonville, FL | Tire shop |
| Caroline, from Marietta, GA | Ski jumping |
| Margaret, from Gadsden, AL | Snuffy |
| Danny, from Chapin, SC | Burnt peanut butter and jelly |
| Bella, from Bowling Green, KY | Breaking |
| Haeseul, from Prattville, AL | Crackers |
| Isaac, from Auckland, New Zealand | Rock Climbing |
| Gigi, from Huntersville, SC | Club minis and Theraflu |
| Sarah, from Augusta, GA | Architecture |
| Rachel, from Leesville, SC | Trampoline |
What were the questions? What Olympic sport could you win gold in? What did you eat for breakfast this morning? What was the name of your first pet? What is your major?
It’s “Neckdown” Week!
The 3rd-years conquer Neckdown… kind of.
It’s not Rural Studio without Neckdown, the week when we put our backs into maintenance and building! This year we got our hands dirty helping across Newbern and Greensboro. Some of us had a chance to help repair the wood deck of the Great Hall, where we have our meals and host many lectures. Others had the opportunity to help leftovers complete tasks for their projects, which meant a lot of digging. But every one of us helped organize red barn, and if we do say so ourselves, that place is well arranged.
Yes, the week was hot, yes, we got up early, and yeah, we carried some heavy things, but it was worth it to be able to help Rural Studio and the Hale County community.
Studi-YOOOOOO
The 3rd-years meet their new client, Mark.
Before we dug into designing, Emily and Andrew played tour guides for past Rural Studio projects. Then we spent time creating exploded axonometric drawings of past Rural Studio homes. The highlight of our semester must be meeting our client, Mark. Talk about first impressions! We arrived at his property to the smell of smoked sausages and orange juice. We were worried that he might be overwhelmed when swarmed with all 17 of us, but he greeted us all with a big smile.
We went back and sketched at Mark’s existing home and did about a billion (8 each) sketches to help us understand how he uses his space. We are excited to take on this project and get to know Mark.
Lions, Tigers, and Chairs, Oh my!
Instructor Steve Long introduces the 3rd-years to the Woodshop’s famous chair project!
We’ve spent the first few classes in the (freshly painted and reorganized) Woodshop being introduced to our semester-long project. We were divided into groups to spend the semester studying the design and construction of wooden chairs designed by famous architects. Steve Long, our instructor, sent us on our first quest to find out all the information we could on how our assigned chairs were constructed. We presented our research and fresh new hand drawings showing the chair’s assembly. We are just a few (hundred) steps and tutorials away from a pristine copy of these wooden masterpieces.
DIY with Dick
Instructor Dick Hudgens and the 3rd-year class take on watercolors!
For our first seminar, we joined Aaron Head at Sumac Cottage to learn how to create dye and charcoal from our natural surroundings! In this class, we had the opportunity to watch Aaron’s process from plucking to painting from many local species that he foraged around Greensboro. We also got to work by scavenging and snipping sticks to create our own charcoal.
Our next stop was Magnolia Grove, where we learned the history of the home and the context of its vernacular architecture. We’re looking forward to all our trips this semester with Dick!
It’s Jumpin’!
3rd-years settle into their new home!
We kicked off the semester by celebrating our August birthdays with a sunset picnic at Spencer House. Continuing to take advantage of the surrounding nature, 3rd-years went tubing at Perry Lakes Park and picked flowers at the Rural Studio Farm! We also got our hands dirty at the community cleanup Saturday morning, cleaning up trash in downtown Newbern. Capping off the semester, 3rd-years hosted a potluck for the new 5th-years, testing the limits of how many people can fit in one kitchen…
