Evening Graveyard Walk with Dogs

Ah....a breather for me...away from the studio.  My evening walk with the dogs in the graveyard.  Enjoy the walk with me.

Jet streams streak the air
Trees outlined gloriously
By the late afternoon sun.

Taking it all in
The sound of birds
Celebrating the warm air.

My heart is lifted
And rejuvinated
As my feet move along the soft ground.

Forgotten droppings
That seemed dried up and lost
Suddenly spring to life.

You would have thought
That they these fallen branches
We still clinging to the awakening trees.

Alas...
It is a short lived
Burst of life from within.

Texture...texture

Lays amongst us

In the smallest of ways.

Another reminder

Of a fallen piece of life

That once clung to life.

I want to reach

Reach out and rescue

This fallen piece of life.

Ahhhh...my eye is drawn

To the smallest flowers

Springing up to show its beauty.

The amazing detail

Each yellow dot can be seen

Perfectly surrounded by a cluster of pink.

I want to pluck it

But I hold myself back

Capturing the essence is enough.

I must stand and move forward

The ground is not enough

There is more to see above the tender ground.

My God..the shape

These buds are beautiful

Waiting patiently to burst forth.

The smell of the earth

It hits me like a wall

Deep, deep breath in.

Oh yes...the gravestones..

They are beautiful in so many ways

The lines, the images, the aging.

You wonder how

Some of the young suffered

And died .

Some of the brave

That died and fought

For all of us...so long ago.

The founders of our cities

Our countries

Our people.

Oh yes...and looking

Back...back at reality

The place I live and work and breath.

The disintegration of time

On things that were

So shiny and new.

Abused by time

By climate

By vandals.

But my precious

Precious dogs

Are looking at me.

What the hell

Are you doing mom

We are hungry.

Patiently waiting

For me to remove myself

From my perch.

Just another nut

That has fallen off the tree

Hey that's not me.....

Okay...okay...

Onward ho we must go

Back to the studio...home..food.

But not before one more

Pondering of what once was

And what will be.

Women Pampering Women and Artists Connects Talk with Oatka School of Glass

My morning started off at 2:30am....since I couldn't sleep...when I proceeded to write our new brochure material that highlights our 2-3 hour workshops that so many people are starting to request recently.  I did manage to get another hours worth of sleep...after my school duty was completed.  The next job of the morning was getting pieces of our work together to take to a afternoon fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity called "Women Pampering Women" in Farmington, NY and our evening presentation at the Arts Council of Wyoming County in Perry, NY.  Hmmm....do you think your life is a whirlwind....step into ours.

A friend of ours, and recent student of my Painting with Light class, Laurel Davern, was going to come with me to be "pampered" for the afternoon.  When she arrived at around 10:30am she was whisked off by Lance and our intern, Maddie, to check out our resident rock specialist, Larry, collection of sliced and polished rocks.  Laurel and her husband, Michael do absolutely wonderful jewelry pieces that utilize different types of rocks and etched dichroic glass.  She found a new supplier.  Once they came back from their little tour we headed out to Farmington for our pampering experience.

We arrived at the event in a timely manner, setup up our table with school and class information and glass examples, and then went to signup for our pampering times.  We had lots of interest in our table, our glass, and our classes that we are offering from all the people that came through for the fundraiser.  BUT when it came time for our pampering....we found out that the one session we signed up for had been cancelled due to that person not showing up to pamper us.  Man....I have never used the word "pamper" so many times as in this one posting...or in my life.  SO...no pampering but we did generate alot of interest in the school and Laurel was great about helping me.

After dropping Laurel off and picking Lance up at the studio we headed off for our next event. In celebration of their 35th anniversary, the Arts Council of Wyoming County are premiering “Artists Connects,” which is an open invitation to our region’s artists, poets and writers to connect, network, share ideas and also learn about each individual’s creative process. “Artists Connects” will take place three times each year with a format that features a guest speaker, question and answers and then a time for informal performance, fun, food and networking.

The Arts Council is housed in a beautiful old building that highlights the local communities huge array of artists both young and old.  Every time we walk into the space, the exhibits are impressively laid out and we love the variety of venues that they organize throughout the year.  We are hoping to do an exhibit there in 2011.

The evening started out with a potluck dinner....and it was absolutely delicious.  We even had a pear pie for dessert.  We all sat around and enjoyed the meal together as a group and then headed into their media room to do our little show and tell talk.  Lance and I both talked separately about where we started with our creative process....for Lance that was way back :), and then we proceeded into a question and answer session.  We brought several pieces of our work that demonstrated a wide range of the type of kiln formed glass work that we both produce and teach at Oatka School of Glass.

We had a very nice evening and met some local artists whom we hope to continue connecting with in the future.  We will definitely be back for these "Artists Connects" events in the future.  Thank-you to all the organizers of this wonderful opportunity.  We hope it continues on for many years to come.

After Hours Warehouse Exploration

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Mangralia's Life at Oatka Glass Studio: Community Art Project

Mangralia's Life at Oatka Glass Studio: Community Art Project

Community Art Project

We were asked, some months ago, if we would be interested in teaching a couple of classes at the Beauchamp Public Library in Syracuse that would tie into Black History Month (February). The library offers community based programs on a continual basis in an ethnically diverse area of Syracuse. These programs allow people who live in the community to participate in activities they would not normally be exposed to. We have run similar programs here at Oatka School of Glass in Batavia, NY and we were more than happy to go further afield to teach there.

Lance submitted our ideas for a workshop and the decision came down to "Kente Cloth Fused Glass Tile Workshop".  Lance researched Kente cloth symbolism and did a great job on all the handout material.  He also made all of the Kente cloth images fused onto 1" squares, cut the 4X4" base glass a few days ahead of time, and made had fused a few sample tiles for the students to look at.   The first class was to be for teens, at 2pm and then an adult group at 6:30pm.  So...yesterday we arranged for a dog sitter to feed and walk the 3 dogs while we were gone and off we drove to Syracuse, NY.

When we arrived, Pam Crane (head librarian), introduced us to all the staff and volunteers and gave us a tour of the facility.  Built in the 1920's and being in Syracuse, they architecture is very art and crafts era and they still have quite a bit of Stickley furniture in the building.  Although it is a small library it is heavily used by local community residents.  Our class was being held in the upstairs auditorium...so after the tour we set up for the first class of ....teens. 

We had 5 teens and 1 adult that participated in the first class and 7 adults for the evening class.  We brought a few pieces of our own work and examples of what we teach for them to look at.  We explained a little about what is kilnformed glass and some of the processes that we use to create our work.  Everyone loved the examples and wants to learn more....we will be back....another project....another time.

All the people that participated enjoyed thinking about what the symbols used in a Kente Cloth mean and we were surprised at how much thought went into the arrangement of these symbols on their 4X4" tiles.  We had alot of fun and we received great feedback about how they all enjoyed doing the project and could not wait to get their fused tiles back.

We had an easy drive back to Batavia....the puppies were glad to see us and we enjoyed our HagenDaz ice cream treat as we watched American Idol before calling it a night......tomorrow.....preparation for me teaching the Creating Imagery and Landscapes in Glass that runs Saturday through to Tuesday....never a dull moment.  I guess I asked for it....be very careful what you ask for....you just might get it.