BEcon week
June 16, 2009 by cynthia
Bullseye’s every-two-years conference, BEcon, is later this week, and the glass artists are already piling into town. For me, this will be a week of pure indulgence.
I skipped GAS in Corning this year, although it would have been fun. I’d anticipated it, juried into a tremendous pate de verre class right before it (the Higuchis, who I’ve been trying to take a class from for the last eight years, actually)…and then got to thinking. Three weeks in Corning were gonna cost a fortune (about the price of a new kiln and a garage remodel, in fact). And GAS, bless its little silicon heart, is mostly about hotshops, the performance art side of the glassmaking world. (Portland GAS last year was a notable exception but then, glassland is a kilntown and Bullseye was a key sponsor of last year’s conference)
I’m foursquare and dead-center into casting, and I’ve been whining all year about not having enough time for my ahhhhhhhhhhrt. Three weeks away from the studio? I don’t think so.
Besides, BEcon was in town the following week and its theme this year is…(drum roll)…casting. The list of speakers kinda reads like the casting honor roll–Howard Ben Tre, Alicia Lomne, Richard Whitely, Linda Ethier, Dan Clayman–there’s even someone from Nicholas Africano’s shop.
No-brainer, that.
Kicked the week off by dragging my friend Les (half the Rowe twins’ duo and a terrific casting artist and teacher in her own right) to Sunday’s Pacific Northwest Sculptors meeting. She was seeking a metalworker for collaboration on a new series–PNWS is lousy with metal sculptors–and we were meeting in Julian Voss-Andrae’s studio.
Julian with one of his latest waveform ladies
I admire Julian’s work tremendously; it’s one of the most perfect pairings of science and art I’ve ever seen. Formerly a physicist in Germany, Julian marries concepts in quantum physics and genetics to massively scaled metal sculptures. The results are stunning on their own, but when you learn the philosophy behind them, they’re mind-blowing. Last night we got to see his “experiments,” maquettes of work that will noodle around in his brain until they’re ready for bigtime, and they were even more impressive. (There’s one on copper waveforms you just gotta see)
Today, a brief meetup with kinda-mentor Alicia Lomne (who has a wonderful, eminently pettable pate de verre series in the Bullseye Gallery right now) on a couple issues I’m having with my Vignette series (of which May is the latest). And, BTW, if you are in town be sure to visit the BE gallery, upstairs and down. The exhibit is almost like visiting The Museum of Cast Glass Art, if such a thing existed, a really wonderful survey of great art being made in glass molds.
Tonight, if we can all get together (you know how flaky we artists can be), we’ll visit Raphael Schnepf’s studio and head over to his client’s house to see a remarkable installation of his work.
Tomorrow my houseguests arrive for the conference, and we’ll head down to the Oregon Glass Guild meeting to hook up with friends and make plans for the rest of the week. This meeting features artist Marty Kremer discussing his Ventana series and marketing glass art; it’s a prelude to a demonstration/workshop he’s teaching on behalf of OGG this Sunday. (BTW, visit the site to sign up for this; it’s only $75, an unbelievable value)
And Thursday: BEcon. Can you say “perfect week?”
Ahhhhhhhhh.
Related posts:
- BeCON 2011, Day 0.5 You can generally say three things about the first half-day of Bullseye's...
I’m feeling a little twinge of regret that my studio is devoid of glass these days. It looks like a terrific conference and I wish I were there to soak up the friends and the vitreous knowledge being parsed out. Have fun (as if you had a choice).
Yes, definitely, the perfect week! My goal is to be there next year. Share as much as you can with us, please. Pictures too! Thanks.
TONIGHT is the meet up with Raf? Darn!!
Nope. Like I said in the post, it’s IF we can get together and that was a tall order. Too many people had projects that needed completing first. So it’s Thursday afternoon around 2-ish. (At least right now, anyway)