Not to put negative energy out there because if you know me - you know how often I rave about my lucky, fortunate life - but I guess I need to rant about everyone thinking I'm a child and treating me as such. It happens all the time in my general, everyday life and I just take it and should see it as flattery but when it happens about clay - I just get angry. A woman came into the studio during the stroll and instructed me to "be careful with that mold" when I was working with some moldy paper clay that I got at Penland. I explained that I love moldy clay and it's so much more forgiving and smeary . . .and it hadn't bothered me yet. I could tell that she assumed that I was in my mid-late 20s and had probably been doing clay 5 years and just didn't know what I was doing. I realized that I found clay 22 years ago in a major way at Haywood community College and then continued to get a bfa w/ concentration in ceramics from a WONDERFUL Japanese instructor that always raved about moldy clay. Anyway, it was a minor exchange, it just kind of defines how people perceive me and my work in clay.
Although it was fun and exciting to be a part of an amazing group of artist in the Pink Dog I also found it made me feel very vulnerable having people come through my personal space and pick things up and judge them - different from a table at a show like the big crafty.
Guess this is the beginning of becoming more legit.
Bear with me as I adjust to this new place in my life/career.
Hey! So glad you are back to blogging! I'll be in touch.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe you started your blog again and I didn't know it! I love it. And not to worry about people thinking you're a kid - I'm sure they never make that mistake again once they talk to you. Your work's amazing. (and really, who would go through someone else's studio and try to give instruction to the artist??)
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