Now THAT was good! ECU Symposium, Pt 3

charm with mineral pigments by Ken Bova

A few final words on the ECU metals symposium...

Angela Bubash and I were asked to lead a break-out session Saturday morning about our residency experiences and residencies in general. I enjoyed talking about my time at Penland in this setting and sharing it with others who might someday consider it for themselves. The next day I stopped by a professional practices session and participated from the audience.

necklace by Liz Steiner

Liz Steiner, an ECU MFA jewelry/metalsmithing candidate, asked me to critique her work while I was at the symposium. We spent an hour together, talking about each piece one at a time and I feel like there was a great exchange of thoughts. Her work is looking really beautiful and I know she will have a great show this spring. (Please be sure to visit her flickr site to see more.)

the charm I made

I also participated in the charm swap organized by Tara Locklear. This is the second one I've been involved with and I was again really pleased with my pick, this time by Ken Bova. (see top image)

And finally, I thought I would mention that you can now read Caroline Gore's wonderful key note lecture introduction at the ECU metals symposium website. It is well-worth reading.

Thanks for reading.

Now THAT was good! ECU Symposium, Pt 2

Dan DiCaprio - wood carving

I enjoyed all the lectures over the symposium weekend: Caroline Gore, Nicole Jacquard, Michael Dale Bernard, and Tom Muir. I like lectures because I enjoy hearing about the work of other artists from their individual perspectives. Artist talks can also be learning experiences for how to execute a good lecture. Both points were true over the weekend and I found myself just sitting back and listening. I took a few notes here and there as well and left feeling inspired.

Tom Muir blackboard sketch of the pin stem mechanism he demonstrated

Also throughout the weekend there were demonstrations by Michael Dale Bernard, Dan DiCaprio, Ken Bova, Tom Muir, Lisa Johnson, and Mi-Sook Hur. I spent time in nearly every demo because the content of each was truly exciting. I picked up little gems throughout each one: soldering tricks, mold making demystified, the engineering behind wood carving... Each workshop was well-organized, included a short artist talk, and then a start to finish demonstration of the topic at hand.

Michael Dale Bernard - powder coating

More images on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.