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ft. worth workshop afterthoughts

updated tue 10 oct 00

 

eden@SOVER.NET on mon 9 oct 00


Well I just noticed that I had promised to let people know how that
workshop in Ft. Worth turned out which was many moons ago now, back in
April or May....can't even remember. Must have been May. I stayed at the
home of one of the participants and it was all the hospitality one could
wish for.

The workshop was held in a bungalow in the middle of a big park that was a
vast corporate recreation facility....picnic benches under the trees right
opposite, all in all a very comfy spot. As always the workshop begins
trying to sort out the projects people have started and choosing those to
go ahead with to get things going. Doing a hands-on workshop is far more
instructive than a show and tell as the errors people make trying to figure
out what to do are as instructive as anything they learn from me.

It was very hectic as usual and I am jumping from project to project and
all of a sudden I look up and realize that in every corner of the room and
several places outdoors there are plaster molds being poured all over the
place. It was really very cool. Most of these people had been working
together in this little facility for awhile and it was a buzz of chatter
and excitement.

One vignette fresh still in my mind is the woman who was such a slow
learner. People were making hush-hush comments about why was I bothering.
Which of course made me even more determined to help this student complete
a project. Mold-making can be very discombobulating at first. We struggled
all weekend but finally by gosh she got a project finished and it seemed a
worthy investment.

And of course afew truly amazing and delightful projects that I got to
participate in that weekend will be fresh in my mind forever. I haven't
taught all that much, art to high school students over 25 years ago,
(English to high-school students about 15 years ago but that is another
tale altogether.......) and these years the occassional workshop. Seems in
every group there's something, somebody, really precious to remember.

The slide show went very well, not too short and not too long. People had
lots of questions and that moved it along very nicely. I brought one
carousel-full as advised here on Clayart, and that seemed to be just right.
The slide show had been planned for the Friday night I flew in but my
plane was hours late.....had to land somewhere in west Texas to avoid a
storm.....so the slide show was at the end instead of the
beginning....don't know which is the usual format but it worked out fine.

Eleanora

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So

Eleanora Eden 802 869-2003
Paradise Hill
Bellows Falls, VT 05101 www.eleanoraeden.com