L.Louise Lashambe on thu 6 aug 98
Hi Everyone;
It's me again. Back from three workshops. The first with Rosette Gault on
Paperclay. Rosette was not only generous with information on paperclay and
all it's marvelous advantageous but with the abc's of clay for those of us
in the class that were fairly new to clay. And for those that had more
experience,
well they admitted to having learned just a bit more as well.She gave
everyone a full and complete understanding of the amazing versitility
paperclay has to offer. I walked away filled with confidence as knowledge
has a tendadcy to do.She would make a piece with two parts letting it set up
to leather hard then just peel it off one placing it somewhere else. Or
repair a crack on a completely dried piece by wetting the crack and slapping
a paperclay patch into and around it. Thanks Rosette for the extra time you
gave us.
The second and third were with Vince Pitelka. In his coloured clay workshop
he created magic designs that amazed us all. We made loafs of combined
layers of coloured clay that grew before our very eyes. His slide shows
alone are amazing in themselves let alone the slide show of his work which
was impressive. Ofcourse we did see slides on the Appalachian Center for the
Arts and Vince gave us a slide tour of the pottery department. They have a
large facility with various kilns on site.
The Acient Clay workshops given the opportunity, I would participate in as
many times as is possible. It is an experience I will not soon forget. We
created acient pots which we applied terra sigillata on , bisiqued then
fired in a bon fire buried in a pit. The results were blackened glistening
pots. Vince is a very skilled instructor to say the least. His slide
presentations on bonfire history is extensive. He's also an enterainer.
Loves to sing and strum his guitar around the fire at night. Now I promised
Vince that I would not make this statement on the list but what can I
say.........
I spent the majority of my free time picking on him, so the next time he's
on the list ask him what a "New Age Coloured Clay Gum Holder" is!!!!!!
Thanks also to Michael McDowell for putting up with us rearraning his
kitchen. We ate and drank from one of his beautiful plates and wine goblets.
His organic garden is something else and the vegetables he shared with us,
well they were what vegetables were meant to taste like. We worked inside
Michael's barn filled with row upon row of organic garlic. And also thank
you Michael for giving me permission to play you drums. I'm sorry this is so
long but I did edit it down to this length.
Take Care
Louise
Thought for the day "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust
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