My corner of the world!

Went to my workshops in the housing last wk. on  Tuesday and Wednesday.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to wrangle any participants yet.  I did however, manage to hand the information over to a few people that I saw milling about.  I also met one of the other women that gives workshops in the same two housing developments and she told me that she had been talking me up to her people.  Cross your fingers for me.

Also Carol and I set up our little booth at 'Stuff & Such'.  It turned out I had 21 items ready for sale.  It was quite time consuming to set up.  I spent the better part of Friday making tags, filling them out, attaching them to the product and then inventorying.  Then we went and set it all up.  I did indeed take pictures, but I only remembered to take my ph., so I used the camera in it and the pictures were un-usable.  So again wish me luck!  Maybe some things will sell there.

I have a 'playdate' with my friend Dana on November 19th.  I will be spending the day at her house teaching her how to use the Rigid Heddle loom that she bought from me.  She even let me pick the lunch menu.  I am very much looking forward to the visit/class/playdate.

Our workshop together last week ended up to be very enlightening, I hope for both of us.  It turns out that the particular technique that I had her using for her current project was taking all of the 'fun' out of it for her.  It was forcing her to think too much, instead of it just happening.  See, even though I NEVER use a pattern (except when I knit socks) and love to just see what happens with a certain technique or colors, she on the other hand prefers a vision of what the end result will be.  A Pattern, if you will, or at the very least a plan.  She is very willing to adjust the plan, if necessary, even to rethink it, but she likes the more structured way of creating.  What I find confining, she finds liberating.  

The very best thing that came out of that discussion, was that she now realizes how to let me know when what she is getting from the class is not what she really wants from it.  She had to find a way to express this to me, and I had to find a way to turn that into something positive.  

The technique she was using is called hatching, and it can be used in many ways.  It can involve one solitary color, or 3, which is what I had her using.  It can make small statements, or you can expand on it to achieve an entirely different effect.  She told me that she loved doing the first piece, and looked forward to working on it each day.  This piece though was taxing her and she was not looking forward to working on this one, but dreading it at times.  She needed a plan.  She said she just kept waiting for it to 'speak' to her, and it just didn't.  We did indeed discuss expanding on the technique and what she could achieve with it.  This gave her what she needed to think AHEAD, and to envision what she might want to achieve with the piece.

For me I think the most valuable lesson for her, was that she could discuss these things, limitations if you will, and we could work together to figure out what EXACTLY would work for her.  That, in my humble opinion, is what makes art ART.  Just because something works for me doesn't mean that it will work for everyone else.  I think she now knows that I am there to give her guidance, encouragement and technicalities. That I can in no way be disappointed by her art and that we have infinite flexibility.  The rest, for instance the plan, is hers entirely.  We took something iffy at best, negative at worst, and turned it into something enlightening and educational.  I am pretty sure this is what makes for a good teacher, or mentor for lack of a better word.

It was a great class and I could not be more proud for the both of us. Art should not be frustrating, or dreadful, but creative, fun, and anything else that brings pleasure to the artist.