You can generally say three things about the first half-day of Bullseye's BeCON glass conference; It's the world's longest half-day (about 16 hours this time), it involves a lot of hugging, and the best part happens after 7pm. Thank heavens they didn't decide to make this a FULL day.
Glassists are swarming like bees into Portland (AKA "glassland"). I've got a houseful, my friends are equally full up, and we're all getting ready for BeCON, Bullseye's biannual conference on glass art. It starts Thursday afternoon with keynotes and gallery receptions, ends Saturday night with lehr-baked BBQ ribs (from pigs, not attendees). In between we'll listen to lectures, gorge on Portland Farmer's Market goodies, watch demos and talk about...(drumroll)...glass.
We came, we fused, we laughed. That pretty much sums up this year's Fusathon which, when you think about it, means a pretty good time was had by all. Fusathons, for those of you who don't know, are the Oregon Glass Guild's annual charitable fusing parties.
“I hate southerners,” the man said over a mouthful of soup, “I’m a northerner, and we take baths. Southerners are always dirty. They stink.” I froze; the whole unbathed southerner thing was news to me. Might be especially surprising to my North Carolinian mother, who never saw a thing she wouldn’t clean. Twice. He sat at the next table over, [...]
"You're going to raise WHAT????" Tami sputtered, laughing so hard I thought about getting out the defibrillator. "Chickens," I said, with a great deal of dignity, "What's so funny about a few chickens in the backyard?" "Maybe the fact that I'm not even sure you know where your backyard IS?" she asked. I blame Brenda. Ernie's mom Brenda, out in [...]
Definition of exhausted: Me. Actually, I'm writing this the day after the Gathering of the Guilds, an artist-owned art fair that I'm told is the largest west of the Mississippi, so you'd think I'd be recovered by now. But this is the 11th year the Oregon Glass Guild participated, and only the second year that *I* shared a booth at the show so, as with last year's show, I ran myself ragged. And found out I still have a LOT to learn. I am--for those of you who don't follow this blog--a show newbie. What I don't know about being an art/craft fair vendor could fill an encyclopedia. On the off chance that there's someone out there even more clueless about shows, I figured it'd be kinda constructive to discuss the things that went wrong (and right).
Glass may be one of the most untouchable of artforms--its strong relationship with light and color makes it extremely visual anyway, and its fragility and razor-sharp fractures most likely reinforce the "eyes only" notion. But what if that's not an option? Why can't artists create glass that speaks to the visually impaired? This is something ELSE I'm learning from this little informal teaching stuff I've been doing. (I gotta wonder if the whole reason you teach is to be able to learn more.)
The old folk at the Ace Hardware think I sniff glue. LOTS of glue. They're amazed my brain hasn't exploded. Yet. Maybe I should explain.
Fun little project, which started with my urgent need for about 600 glass cabochons for a craft fair. I began cutting up dozens of failed projects, roughly shaping and firing them into cabs ranging from about a quarter-inch to 3x3 inches. Sometimes the results were spectacular, sometimes not...but my absolute favorites came from failed boxcasting experiments. I decided to make [...]
Wonderful artist and really nice person Els VandenEnde died last night. I met her exactly eight times in my entire life and each time she greeted me like a long-lost friend. We corresponded more online than in person, and always meant to get together but somehow never really did. There's a term I use for work that's physically as well [...]
