ART & life

Ah, yes, working for Blick does have its benefits. Speaking with local artists, art students and art supporters is great for filling my brain with ideas and my heart with passion. And I do get some pretty sweet deals on the materials I use.  Working daily in a comfortable atmosphere with creative people is all sorts of fun.

Yesterday at work I had a conversation with this laid-back, friendly woman who works as a sculptor.  She's been doing bronze castings for years, but has recently had some problems with her hands [an artist's injury] and is moving into doing coil constructions with clay.  We talked about wood firings and pit firings and how a potter friend of hers will help her construct a kiln in her yard; the clays she could use for it.  I described some of the wood firings I did in school with Professor Chaney, in his massive anagama.  Whites, greens and reds in the naturally settled ash glaze pieces unexpectedly.  Delicate and dainty porcelain can become powerful and robust in the wood kiln.

She told me about her interest in paper clay, in which any paper is recycled and mixed into clay slip to create a light-weight, porous, low-fire sculpting clay.  Very interesting.  She gave me some sculptors to look up and explained her love of figure sculpting.  She spoke fantastically, with passion, and as a true artist - one unconcerned with the affairs of the world, who wants simply to create all the time.  She did mention the thought of hiring a studio assistant to do the heavy work for her [extruding coils, mixing clay & whatnot] so she could focus on the sculpting.

I asked if she had a website with photos of her work, she replied no.  I checked her out with the clay and tools she needed, seeing her name briefly across the screen as I scanned her discount card.  I wrote down my website address for her to check out my work, which I told her about a little bit.  The next customer approached as she rolled out her clay & waved a friendly farewell.

I spent maybe a quarter of an hour total that afternoon attempting to look up her name in the database, in order to follow up & keep in contact, if she were to need a studio assistant [me?] or someone to help out with the firings.  Oh, I do hope she emails me!