Penn Center to Host National Craft Open Studios Workshops July 18-19

On July 18–19, 2026, visitors are invited to experience the artistry, history, and cultural significance of handmade craft through the work of Penn Center's 2026 Artists-in-Residence, Torreah "Cookie" Washington, Bruce Ingram, Amiri Farris, Monique de La Tour, and Teniqua Pope.

This exhibition will take place Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July, 19, from 12-5 pm at the Penn Center campus on St. Helena Island.

National Craft Open Studios Weekend is the first event of its kind, bringing together artists across the country to welcome the public into their creative spaces.

As part of this nationwide celebration, presented by the American Craft Council, visitors will enjoy a unique opportunity to meet Washington, learn about the traditions that inspire her work, and witness firsthand how Gullah Rag Quilting preserves history while continuing to evolve for future generations. 

A fourth-generation needleworker, award-winning fiber artist, curator, and educator, Washington has dedicated her career to preserving and elevating African American textile traditions. Based in Goose Creek, South Carolina, her work centers ancestral memory, environmental responsibility, and Gullah Geechee cultural heritage through art quilts, Gullah rag rugs, basketry, and sculptural forms.

Cookie Washington is Penn Center’s 2026 Sam Doyle Artist-in-Residence. Her vision is to ensure these traditions continue to thrive, not only as artistic practices but as living records of family, place, and identity.

As a leading practitioner of Gullah Rag Quilting, Washington honors the historic no-sew Lowcountry tradition developed by enslaved Africans, transforming reclaimed materials into works that tell stories of resilience, creativity, and community. Through her Beautility movement, she reimagines upcycling as both an artistic practice and a way of life, where everyday materials become expressions of beauty, purpose, and cultural memory.

Penn Center's participation in National Craft Open Studios Weekend reflects the goals of its Culture and Community initiative, a partnership with the University of Georgia's Willson Center for Humanities and Arts supported by the Mellon Foundation. The program connects artists, scholars, students, and community members through projects that celebrate and preserve the living traditions of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.

"For me, Gullah Rag Quilting is a language of memory—an act of honoring the lives, labor, and creativity of those whose stories were rarely recorded but deeply felt," Washington said when she was named Penn Center's 2026 Artist-in-Residence. "This residency at Penn Center allows me to root that work in place, history, and community... connecting past to present through hands-on making and a practice of craftivism."

Throughout her residency, Washington is engaging community members and students through workshops, collaborative quilting projects, and intergenerational programming that explores Gullah Geechee history through textile arts.

Visitors will have the opportunity to meet a diverse group of artists whose work reflects the history, culture, and creative traditions of the Lowcountry.

Monique de La Tour, Penn Center's Interpretive and Exhibitions Lead, curated the current Bruce Ingram exhibition at the York W. Bailey Museum. She also shares her knowledge of traditional Lowcountry arts through indigo dyeing workshops and guided medicinal plant walks that explore the connections between culture, history, and the natural landscape.

Teniqua Pope is an artist, abolitionist, and healing arts practitioner with deep ancestral roots in South Carolina's Lowcountry. A 2025 Gullah Geechee CREATE artist, she transforms ocean debris and natural materials into works that explore resilience, displacement, and heritage. Her projects include Selah Sound, which combines art, agriculture, and activism to support Gullah Geechee cultural and land preservation, and Sojourner's Staff, a collection of hand-carved walking sticks inspired by personal stories of the Great Migration.

Amiri Farris, Penn Center's 2023-24 Artist-in-Residence, is a Bluffton-based interdisciplinary artist whose work has been featured in more than 50 solo and museum exhibitions nationally and internationally. During his residency, themed "Land and Justice," Farris explored Gullah Geechee culture, land conservation, heirs' property, and the history of Penn Center through photography, painting, and other media.

Bruce Ingram, As part of the weekend's festivities, visitors are also invited to an opening reception for Bruce Ingram's exhibition at the York W. Bailey Museum on Friday, July 18, at 6 p.m. The reception offers an opportunity to meet the artist and celebrate the exhibition in advance of the weekend's public programming. Click here or image to RSVP.