John C. Campbell Folk School and Penland School of Crafts name new directors

It was announced last month that John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown had selected Jerry Jackson as its new executive director. And this week, Penland School of Crafts in Penland named Maria “Mia” Hall as its next director. Jackson will take his post on Aug. 15; Hall will begin her new position on Jan. 1.

Jackson’s appointment follows the retirement of the Folk School’s long-serving director Jan Davidson. Prior to coming to John C. Campbell, Jackson spent a decade at Penland where he was “responsible for all aspects of operations, including student programming, financial accountability, dining facility, housekeeping, building maintenance and construction … and played a key role in support of Penland’s recent $32 million capital campaign,” according to a press release. He has also served as the executive director of Rocky Mount Arts Center. He holds a master’s degree in Fine Arts from East Carolina University and is a painter and ceramist.

At Penland, Hall succeeds Jean McLaughlin, who took over directorship of the school 1998. Hall is a native of Sweden. She “holds an MFA in furniture design and woodworking from San Diego State University in California, where she worked closely with renowned woodworker and teacher Wendy Maruyama,” according to a press release. “In 2007 she was hired by [University of Arkansas at Little Rock] to develop a furniture design program and to teach furniture design and contemporary craft courses.” As department chair in Arkansas, she was involved with the “funding, design and construction of the new, 65,000-square-foot Windgate Center of Art + Design at the university.”

Hall creates furniture and mixed-media sculpture.