ELCAB@delphi.com on mon 1 apr 96
I learned a) it was terrific to be among 2300 people who
needed no explanation as to why I work in clay.
b) theres no point in being jealous of academics who are free
to develope their
aesthetic directions withouthaving to deal with the market for
your work..I decided
that Id rather throw 100 mugs than sit through committeee
meetings etc.
c)People are wonderfully different in their aesthetic
solutions..The presentation of Emerging Talents was a great
case in pointThe range was from tattooed torsos and body parts,
to glosssy big public sculptures to wood fired primordial rocky
forms..but every one who spoke took a similar inward
exploratory journey with totally different results.
d) checking my own wok against slides shown, or work seen at
the shows and exhibiyions
was useful(who's competative ?) Ifelt okay about it, not
satisfied bu not mortified..Maybe its
time for me to enter some exhibitions ?..there s a lesson
right there..d)
d) clayart breakfast..Wonderful to see alll those familiar
names and unfamilkiar faces..lovely to see Nils Lou after all
these years
e)learned some neat tricks at various demonstartations...dor
example, if you are doing a flat tile installation,lay out the
pieces face up, lay clear contact paper over the faces, and
then you van cut it into convenient sections for
installing...no more one at a time placement..that sort of
thing /
f) commercial exhibition was usueful..Saw Clay;Art and
Perception for the first time..and sprung the $ fior
it..serious good mag..also shook kand siwth Janet Mansfield,
whose work I admire..
g) was please to learn that despite 20 years alone in a studio
and hearing problems, I still had some vestigial social skills
left..enjoyed walking through exhibitions with Burt Cureton
,laughing with Carla and Russell, meeting Baccia and Barbara,
and eating with strangers
who cared about clay.
eI thought the Precious Metal To Clay was precious indeed,(not
a compliment) a good example of technology that is nowheres
near the point of usefullness or interest..
g) I learned on the trip home,NOT to stop at Indian Gambling
Casinos,despite the fact that I won $. They are electronic,
unsensory gloomy places full of people who are not having
fun...exactly the antithesis of NSECA..but golly, next year in
Las VEgas...maybe there are a few of those old silver dollar
pl;aces left..
h) I learned while at a Break out group, that people do the
most extraordinary things to keep going in clay..I won't call
them sacrifices because they are freely done but there are some
truly dedicated people out there.
I noticed what appeared to me to be a gender difference in the
young people attending(20 year olds , that is) The young men
stood, with arms folded and seemed to watch the demonstrators,
for example, with a sort of evaluative look...like young torero
checking the older matadors to measure themselves against
them...The women sat much more relaxedly, with an arm over the
back of a chair or more sprawly..less comptetively I
thought..now is alll this subjective or did antone else think
so ?
And lastly, this was my first NSECA..I was glad I went and
recommmend the experience...
even if it did snow every single day!
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