Checking in
I’ve been insanely busy (of course) over the past few months taking a 3-credit Ceramics I class at my local college. I did it to finalize my Public School teachers credentialing, and it really was amazing fun and totally lit me on fire – creatively speaking, of course! We went through all of the basics of hand building, and then on to rudimentary wheel throwing. I am still completely mystified by the arcane art of glazing, but I am told that will come with time. Ceramics is the polar opposite of metalwork, but I have to say that doing it has changed my thought processes for making things in such an interesting way. It requires a lot of letting go of control, and for a jeweler, that’s asking a lot, lol. I got nearly 20 objects built, fully glazed and on the mantel, and I love it so much that I signed on for 3 more credits of Ceramics 2 in the Spring. YAY!
On the Metals side of things, I taught two great bunches of delightful students at my workshops at Snow Farm in Massachusetts and also at Charmtree Jewelry Studio in Maryland earlier in the fall. There was a full day of volunteer demos at Gemarama for the Tuscarora Lapidary Club, and now my overflowing plate is finally empty. I happily see some rest on the horizon later this week with the coming Holiday break from teaching Middle School, too.
Right now, I am hunkering down for the winter season, taking care of lingering paperwork, putting the garden to bed, trying to stay dry and warm and preparing financially as well as I can for the uncertainty of the coming New Year. I do have some workshop bookings and the delightful New Courtland Fellowship for Seniors to teach in January that have already been planned out, plus there is a body of work I adore creating and can’t wait to get back to. Then, there’s also a bunch of unfinished work on my bench I want to focus on, my columns for MJSA Journal, and a sweet little commission later in the summer. Other than that, I have ZERO intention of going anywhere spontaneously or doing anything requiring money or outside of my personal normal, because I just don’t want to spend, consume or contribute to the economy. It’s just gonna be food, living with what I already have, gas to get to work, doing my work, and going right home afterwards for me, probably for around 4 years – if you catch my drift. . .
I’ve voluntarily put myself on an austerity budget and I intend to keep it that way. So, no Tucson for me for awhile. But that said, I hope everybody I know and love can hang in, go on and get through all of this, and we can persevere as artists to make some great work despite it all, stay healthy, breathe slowly and remain safe.
Hold your loved ones close, keep your head down and your heart in the right place. That is never wrong.. Please be careful out there this winter. I have a feeling it will be a cray-cray doozy!