I’ll start you off with a photo. Here’s a donut pendant from this weekend. I am working on items for the Bead Bazaar whenever I can squeeze in a bit of creative time. This pendant uses a tab prong setting and it has a tube bail soldered to the back.
The winds of change are blowing around us right now. M just turned 12 (how did that happen?) and today she gets her braces on. (actually I am writing this via the wifi connection at the orthodontist’s office) Tomorrow she starts 7th grade, new grade and new school. Friday is E’s first day of school as a senior. Yikes! It’s a week of beginnings. As much as I hate to say goodbye to summer, I am excited about getting my freedom back, those lovely hours of solitude and time for creativity. Now if we can just survive the last few hours of summer time without killing each other. LOL
I’ve been thinking about change, and how resistant to change we can become. Lately, this has been coming to mind in reference to the upcoming National Polymer Clay Guild’s Conference “Synergy”. The catalog of seminars and presentations was recently posted online. When the topic of the upcoming conference has come up, I’ve often heard people grumbling about the new format and the fact that the classes are not hands on. When I first heard about Synergy and the proposed format, I was disappointed that it wasn’t going to be a traditional workshop based conference. But after I thought more about it, and about how I handle workshops, I am really excited about the seminar based conference.
Some people go to workshops and really come alive trying the new techniques. I generally find myself in workshops doing the bare minimum of work so that I can keep up, but churning with ideas I want to try in my studio. I don’t work well in a group environment. I love the energy of being around other creative people, but it’s distracting. It’s difficult for me to sort through all that energy, all those ideas. I try to take notes and absorb as much info from the teacher as I can and then distill it into something helpful for my work when I am back home.
The Synergy format will give the polymer clay community the opportunity to learn new techniques, exchange ideas with other like-minded artists, and generally steep ourselves in the creative polymer buzz for 3 whole days. One of the other fun benefits to this kind of conference is that the format will allow anyone who wants to come to register. They can accommodate a much larger number this way. The price is pretty reasonable too.
The winds of change can be unsettling, but they can bring exciting new possibilities too. I hope I’ll get to meet a lot of you in Baltimore in February.
For more info, there are some great interviews of Synergy presenters on the latest Polymer Clay Podcast.
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Janice 08.28.07 at 2:27 pm
I love when you can look at a collection of an artist’s work and see how it all fits together. You have a style that is your own. It might be a combination of the shape of your work, your patinas, rivets or even your stamping but it is your style. I love the new pendant! Thanks for sharing.
I’m also like you when it comes to workshops. Some people just take the information and are off and running. I’m one of those people who definitely needs to assimilate what’s been presented. So I’m very happy that the format for Synergy is what it is. Thanks for the heads up on the podcast. I’ll have to listen in.