Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Why Ceramics Is So Much Better Than All Those Other Craft Forms


Well, I can hardly believe my luck. I'm riding north from Portland knowing that there are a couple of ceramics places that I should visit, but not having really figured out where they are or what I should do if I find them. So I see a sign on the the road saying "Watershed Ceramic Arts Center" and I veer off into the woods.

I pull into a parking lot that unsurprisingly reminds me a lot of the Archie Bray and immediately run into Paige and Amanda. I explain that I'm a ceramic artist and I want to check the place out. They tell me that if I want I could probably stay for a few days, do some work, and hang out. Ummm....OK!



So they give me a cabin to myself, with my own bathroom, and promise me meals cooked by a couple of resident chefs. Nice! It is what they call "post-session" here right now, and they are shifting over from the summer set up to the winter set up, hence the need for some extra labour. I got settled away and invited to go to an artist talk. Karin and Tyler took me up to Rockland to see the Beehive Collective (more on that in the next post, it was awesome!), so I got a bit of a preview of my ride to the north.



After that we headed home and the current residents, volunteers and staff are sitting around a campfire shooting the breeze and drinking some beers. Perfect! We have a great night, but I am warned of the price we have to pay for this treatment. Apparently they spent all day today moving fridges from the summer studio into the winter studio. On the bill for tomorrow - moving kilns into the winter studio! Oh well, I've never been averse to a bit of hard work! But since I am crossing the continent by bicycle for the sake of art Karin gave me the option of having the morning off. I'll set my alarm, though, and when I wake up I'll decide whether I want to show them some work ethic or not.

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