Week 11 - NCECA & Cross-Country Traveling
The past week has felt like a month. My road trip to NCECA went smoothly; I slept at a rest stop in Nebraska and made it to Salt Lake around 6pm with enough time to work out and shower at a Planet Fitness before picking up my dear friends Drew and Max, who I shared a hotel room with, from the airport.
NCECA was incredible. I connected with many artists I’ve admired/followed for years, made a ton of new friends from all parts of the country, and even met an old internet friend I’ve known for 12 years who was attending NCECA for the first time… what a small, weird world, that clay would be the thing to reunite us in person. I had a great time meeting with the folks from Taos Ceramics Center (I hope to visit on my way back!), and had a nice chat with Sam Chung from ASU about my application. I also had an insightful portfolio review with Shoji Satake; he gave me some really helpful technical advice and a wadding recipe I’m eager to try out.
The highlight of this conference for me was definitely the networking and socializing. I am deeply grateful for my ceramics community. As I navigate this time of flux, transition, and uncertainty, I feel amazingly supported by friends and mentors across the country.
After NCECA concluded, I did some laundry then hit the road again and drove to a primitive campsite about an hour outside of Arches National Park. I woke up to the gorgeous desert landscape, which became increasingly more dramatic as I drove through deeper into the canyon. I was absolutely awestruck and stunned by the geography in Arches. I took an obscene amount of photos. It was surreal being in the landscape that I’ve stared at for months on my studio wall. It was so cool being able to study the sandstone formations and theorize exactly how they had shifted and eroded as the canyon moved.
I stayed at another primitive campsite outside of Goblin Valley State Park the following night. I didn’t go into Goblin Valley, but had an incredible view of the Swell from my site.
I was astounded by how diverse the geography in this area was. I could literally see the different raw materials in the hills. I took a sample of the blue/green vein that ran through much of the hills of the landscape, thinking it must contain copper carbonate. I also took some of this white material that was along much of I-50 through western Utah/eastern Nevada during my drive to California. It behaved a lot like porcelain when I was digging it; I’m thinking it must be some form of kaolin. I also took a bit of red soil and wild clay along I-50, and red sand from Arches. I’m really looking forward to testing everything when I get back to IUS.
I arrived at Cobb Mountain Art & Ecology project last night, after a very eventful drive on I-80, over the Donner pass (there were 9 shut downs along the mountain because of a snow storm), and a beautiful last 2 hours along I-20. I’m here on a workshop scholarship for the next week and a half doing a train kiln wood firing with Scott Parady. The land is gorgeous, the studio is awesome, and I’m feeling so thankful to have this time to learn and soak up the mountain air.
