Italy and Art!

Lately, I have been exploring more of my art oriented side, trying to figure out what it is that intrigues me about the arts, specifically ceramics, and what role they may play in my life. As always, I am restless and have found the best way for me to learn is through traveling and exposing myself to new techniques and practices. The great thing is many craft schools offer workstudy arrangements that make it possible for one to spend an extended amount of time in a creative environment in exchange for labor. I spent January and February at the John C. Campbell Folkschool in North Carolina. There, I took more clay, weaving and mountain dulcimer building. After time in the woods and office America, it was refreshing to live in a community of people organized around the arts and the continuance of traditional craft. The sheer variety and quality of what was produced each week blew my mind even as I learned new skills and pushed my ceramics. Having spent over a year and half in the USA, it was time for some international travel which meant taking an assistant position at La Meridiana, a ceramics center in Certaldo, Italy. After a week visiting family in Scandinavia, I arrived at La Meridiana on the 4th of April and the next day students arrived for the first workshop of the season. The assistants’ job is basically to make sure the studio is clean, find things the instructor needs, mix glazes and slips, prepare coffee breaks and serve lunch. This sounds like a lot to do but spread out over the course of the day, it really just means being on call all the time. So Far, I have attended 4 workshops: Earthenware and Slips taught by Richard Phethean Porcelain and Bucchero taught by Victor Greenaway Translucent and Colored Porcelain taught by Curtis Benzle Naked Raku taught by Wally Asselberghs and Sue Morse From Where I Live

Some of My Work

Outside of work, I have explored a few of the towns in Tuscany and take daily walks through vineyards and olive groves. All over Tuscany are small medieval hill towns that date back to the Etruscans. Their hilltop position with large walls helped in their defense against the other hill towns. A few weeks ago, I followed along on a field trip to San Gimignano and Volterra. San Gimignano is famous for its towers which in its day were a sign of wealth and power. Claudia, our director, gave us a tour of one of the great churches and we wandered the city and looked out over the surrounding landscape. Then we headed to Volterra which is home to one of the first and most important Etruscan museums. Both of these cities have beautiful old architecture and narrow streets that wind this way and that. They also both have captured the tourism market in a way that Certaldo has not. There is a historical hill town that looks out over the modern town of Certaldo but it feels empty with its restaurants and gourmet food shops lacking tourists. However, living at a ceramics center in a non-touristy town definitely makes one aware of the natural beauty of the place and its buildings without feeling compelled to appreciate what someone else has decided is the most spectacular.