Spring Break - I worked extra days at the foundry to make up some hours missed during nceca. I had a plan for a moment prior to spring break that I would side hustle some pots, pick up days at the foundry and drop the Speed so I could focus on ceramics and the foundry in prep for grad school apps. But after spending 4 days straight there I decided I can not do that. For my metal and physical health I need to break up the toxicity. So now I kinda need to figure something out soon that frees up my time a bit and hopefully for more money… Outside of working non stop and doubles at the speed I completed my goal of 130 legs!
NCECA - It was a lot. Good and some not so good. It was really awesome to see Car, Brooklyn, Sydney, and Lallana! I was a little bummed that the few schools I wanted to chat with about grad programs did not have resource tables, I had hyped myself up so much to reach out and talk to them but… I went to a few tables and toured VCU all felt a little lacking to me. I’m glad I volunteered this year, both for the experience and because I wouldn't have been able to afford the pass without but I will try very hard to not have to volunteer again, unless its before or after the conference. Being stuck to one spot for 10 hours throughout the week was too much. I missed many things I wanted to sit in on and I didn't see nearly as many exhibitions as I wanted to. Although I do think I had signed up for the best volunteer spot, Student Portfolio Review, I was able to meet some artists I've been fans of for years and ran into a few familiar faces like Steven Creech, and Wes Brown. I also met Jon McMillan, an awesome guy, no doubt that he's an amazing teacher. Exhibitions were good. Besides the obvious folks whom we know that had work shown, my favorite piece was Narcissus by Jinsik Yoo. Which is hilarious to anyone who talked to me about ceramic arts recently cuz I'm on a kick of anti-functional/anti-human figure. I want to see more weird shit.
Anyway I left nceca with a different drive than last year. Last year I was so inspired to make new work, I literally started pushing centipedes out. But this year I don't necessarily feel the need or passion to start some brand new direction, but rather to hunker down and iron out all the wrinkles in my practice.
Post NCECA week - Exhaustion hit me on Tuesday but I powered through enough to ensemble the “baby monster” . I really didn't do a lot, it's all about the prep work. I started working on my centipede leg cup mold. My goal for the rest of the week is to finish the mold, graze and fire some work for a raku before my in progress crit next week. I also kinda need to finish and attach all the legs on the “baby monster” asap because it's already on a drying timeline.