Weeks 15 & 16 - Ups and Downs
The past two weeks have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs.
I thought wood-fired marshmallows might heal me…. close, but no cigar. ):
Last week, my last plane from Montana landed in Louisville late Monday night, and I spent most of my time in the air working on an application for a residency at Taos Ceramics Center. On Tuesday, I spent the day in the studio working on my sculpture up until I had to leave for work. I got off work around 2am and went straight to the wood kiln to lead the overnight shift. My cohorts began kindling the wood kiln that morning, so by the time I got there around 2:30, it was around 1400 degrees. I left around 7am after stoking overnight with Emma, and it was sitting around cone 06 if I’m not mistaken. I felt good about how slow and steady we were able to get the kiln to climb, and I enjoyed taking the lead on the overnight, even though I didn’t have any of my own work in the kiln. But Emma and I had both been awake for 22+ hours straight, and that, combined with traveling the day prior, caused me to catch a nasty winter cold.
I was fighting off sickness most of Wednesday and Thursday, and didn’t get much work done in the studio. I did, however, receive some really encouraging news: I was awarded a scholarship to a train kiln wood firing workshop with Scott Parady at Cobb Art and Ecology in California! It takes place in early April, right after NCECA, and I am so excited. I also heard back from Taos Ceramics Center; they had unfortunately filled the resident position just hours before receiving my application, but were still interested in conducting an interview with me. I think this was for the best, as the position began in January, and my life would’ve been turned upside down if I had to move to New Mexico next month. But it was great to hear more about the program, their experience living in Taos, and their future plans with the center; it’s a really incredible place that I hope to visit during my big roadtrip out West this Spring, and an amazing opportunity for the future. It really excites me to think that there might be a potential place for me there next year.
On the topic of residencies, I found out earlier this week that I was accepted to two more residencies(!!!): a winter cabin residency at Byrdcliffe in Woodstock, NY, and a two-week long residency at Azule in Hot Springs, NC. Unfortunately, after a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that I am not able to afford the residency at Byrdcliffe. I honestly applied with very, very low hopes and was incredibly surprised when I got the news. I am so honored to have been awarded the residency, but I just don’t have the funds to cover the residency cost, along with all of the additional expenses and income lost from being out of work for two months, especially considering my upcoming trip to NCECA/the Cobb workshop this spring. It just doesn’t make sense at this point in my life. I did accept the Azule residency, though, which is January 19-February 2nd. I will be focusing on making 2D (oil and charcoal) works inspired by my sculptures. So excited!
In other studio news, I’m nearly finished with my sculpture. I will have it finished in time for final critiques this Wednesday, mark my words!
And with Brian’s help, I loaded the base part of this monolith into the soda kiln. I covered it in a thin wood-ash slurry. It’s got a whopping millimeter of clearance!
Hopefully it shrinks faster than the arch droops (absolutely no hate on our soda kiln, but its arch has seen better days)… I know this kiln pack is terrible; I couldn’t fit a full shelf with because of my fat, heavy sculpture, so had to use half shelves, and I didn’t have enough work for a full pack anyway, so I am firing some of Grace and Christopher’s work, along with a leftover bowl of GH Wood’s, and a mystery re-fire sculpture by Max Trumpower. Fingers crossed for this firing.
It feels wrong to share the biggest “down” of these weeks in a blog post, partly because it still doesn’t feel like reality. On Thursday, my dog Nico went to heaven. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around a world without him in it. He is/was the best boy in the entire world. His spirit is still very alive in my heart, and his memory is still fresh in my mind. This is the biggest, hardest loss I have ever experienced. I didn’t expect to lose him this suddenly and soon. It will be a long process moving forward. I am so grateful I was able to spend that week with him over Thanksgiving.