Invigoration

Another old post, originally written 15 Sept 07; a year and a month ago. Has it been so long?

This morning and afternoon I attended a workshop with Meredith Brickell, a ceramic artist who lives in Raleigh, NC. Her show at Lill Street opened today, but many pieces were already purchased after a week in the gallery (the new owners will be allowed to pick them up in a month when the show closes).

It was super cool and fantastic and I learned a bunch of new things.

It's hard to explain what about it makes me so excited. She was pretty cool. The workshop-mates were cool. Meredith worked with a practiced ease. I get the sense that she showed us some things that answer questions I hadn't yet figured out how to ask, somehow shaving months or more off my learning curve.

But aside from the immediately practicable skills, there was hope. Ideas on how to keep practicing clay at home, how perhaps to keep my ceramic practice going at home. She went to school and practiced graphic design for several years before going back to school for ceramics.

With the cost of clay rising, I feel like that might be an inhibiting factor... so doing electric firings is more cost effective from a firing standpoint, and lets me buy clay cheaply. Was I really worried about the cost of clay? Now I TA for wheel classes; this buys me a bag of clay every week, if I want to make so much work.

In addition to demonstrating many of her techniques, she also shared glaze recipes and talked about her process. She worked with confidence and is a gifted teacher, sharing many small tips and tricks that she's discovered, and gave general encouragement and guidance.