Arrowmont!!!

Whew! What a crazy few days it's been! I swear, I've been going non stop this whole week past! I made it to Gatlinburg Thursday evening, just in time for dinner. It was a little un-nerving at first, not knowing anyone or where anything was. But after a couple of days, I've got a pretty good handle on things. I think.

My main job as a studio assistant is to make sure the instructors have everything they need. We also help out with the slide presentations and whatever else needs doing. Last week everyone was running around like mad since Arrowmont was hosting a huge benifit Auction. Instructors for this week's workshops came in on Sunday, and yesterday was a lot of trouble shooting and errand running.

Today, the main event was the gas leak they discovered when they finally took the auction tent down. Never a dull moment here.

I'm not permitted to use the studios unless I'm in a class, which won't be for another three weeks. I'm a little bummed, but I went ahead and set up a little studio in the building where the assistants and work studies are allowed to have space.
I brought some work to hopefully sell. The other studio assistants and I are going to try and run an open studio one night a week.

Thanks for reading!

Clearing Out

Well, my space is empty, my apartment mostly packed, I've turned in my studio key and said goodbye to my ocean. I've changed my address and am headed out in a couple days. Just a few more errands to run, a bit more packing to do, and hopefully time for one more dinner with friends and a chance to walk the Tar River Greenway one last time.

I'm nervous and excited and overwhelmed. I've been ready of a change for so long, and I think Arrowmont will be a great place to start. The saddest thing was packing up my copper conductive paint, since I don't know when I'll be able to electroform again. At best, it will still be several months before I can get my own bath set up.

I'm curious to see how this blog shapes up, no that I'm no longer in school. I've got some interesting things in the works. I hope you'll stay along for the ride. Next stop, Arrowmont.

Design Seeds

Do you know about this site? It positively has me salivating. If I ever get to teach enameling again, I'm totally telling my students about this site.

Etsy Adds

Some recent Etsy adds to both the jewelry shop and the paper shop.

"Occupation. . . . ."

So I had to fill out some forms yesterday, where I had to list my "Occupation". Up until now, I'd always listed "student", but being newly graduated, this no longer applies. "Unemployed" doesn't seem entirely accurate. For one thing, I'd be a lot less busy.

I feel like my wonderful family (whom I adore) keep waiting for me to call up and say "I got the job!" I'm not really sure what job that would even be. Teaching job? Unlikely. Bench wench? Maybe. A gallery job? Who knows? Some ubiquitous 9 to 5? Not if I can help it.

After some thought, I realized that I already have a job. My job is a studio artist. My job is to make work, and all that that entails. And it's not a 9-5, Monday through Friday. It's an all day, everyday, from when I get up in the morning until I go to bed kind of job. It's a hard job, but I can't imagine doing anything else. So I listed "studio artist" on my silly forms.

That being said, I wish this job paid more regularly.