Sunday, July 6, 2014

Happy Birthday, Dave (& This, That, and the Others' Work)

Today was Dave and the Dalai Lama's birthday!

happy monster dave

That's Dave (as seen through my photobooth monster filter)!  It was a quiet birthday. We opened presents (lots of clay tools and two new mugs), had a big breakfast (calabacitas, eggs, homemade salsa, and beet salad with a lime-ginger-cilantro dressing), then we went to the studio. Dave made an ocarina with his new tools and I worked on a new bust. We both helped someone with a horsehair firing. We came home and had Dave's favorite birthday dinner, cheese fondue. (Ugh, so much cheese!) Dessert was not birthday cake, but miniature pastries from Whole Foods. 

Dave's present to himself is going to be a new clarinet, so that is something to look forward to.

This, That, and the Others' Work

 This was the group of workshop participants:
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(Travis, Gloria, Craig, Kelly, Stewart, Janis, Brigid, Susan, Me, Judith, and Judi.)

Are you curious about what some of the other people made?

I posted Travis's work previously, but here is a bit more from a couple of the others.

This is Kelley, a 21-year-old from Ohio, Snapchatting a photo of herself with her work. I thought it was funny, so I took this photo of her taking a selfie.
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Gloria came to the workshop from Dallas, TX, with her husband Stewart. They sat across the table from me and Gloria worked away while Stewart talked and talked and talked and worked a bit. (I actually enjoyed the chatter and his wit and insights.)

Gloria made this five-piece garden totem:
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The workshop was valuable yet frustrating. I gained knowledge of useful hand-building and glazing techniques that I can apply to my work, but I was often frustrated by the other workshop participants.

For example, I have little patience for people who continuously monopolize the instructor's time to the detriment of the other students. (We had one of those who--bonus!--also happened to be a vocal racist.) I have little patience for people who think a clay workshop is kin to group therapy. Unfortunately, the instructor was far too generous with her attention to these types of people.

The other frustrating thing was the expense of the workshop venue. Santa Fe is an expensive city, yes, but the workshop cost per day what I pay per month for studio time at home. So there was a tremendous amount of pressure to get things done.  Also, there was some very inflated pricing for the artist's work in the studio's gallery. Of course nearly all galleries take 50%, but in the case of this particular gallery, there seemed to be an additional markup beyond the 50%. (One work that had been priced in another venue at $975 was priced in this venue at $1450.) That seemed a bit overly greedy. I would have loved to have purchased a piece, but it was a bit rich for my blood.

I came back to the studio with the idea of a quick turnaround on the ideas, and over the last two days have built a small bust using the things I've learned. I can't wait to have some finished big pieces!

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