Summer Re-Cap Pt 1.

 

So here we are, at the end of summer. I've been back in NC for two weeks, teaching classes at Craven Community College and trying to get caught up on all the little things that fell by the way side while I was at Peters Valley this summer. It was such an incredible experience, and I'm still sad that I had to leave almost a month before the end of season to start at CCC. I'm also bummed that I wasn't able to blog about this summer as it was happening. We barely had wi fi on campus and only in a certain area. And if you downloaded or uploaded too much stuff, it would freeze for 24 hours. To get any real work done on the computer, you had to go to the public library, almost 20 min away. So that explains my near total absence from the blogosphere.

 Back to the beginning then, I arrived at PV in early May to be their Artist Fellow in Fine Metals. My job was running the metals studio, making sure we had all the tools and materials for each workshop, and that my instructor was happy and that the students were happy with the studio and the instructor and that they had enough time to work in the studio in the evenings. I lived on campus in a nice but sparse little apartment and ate nearly all my meals in the dining hall. PV is in the Deleware Water Gap, right across the PA border in New Jersey. The nearest "town" was about 20-30 minutes away. So I spent the summer living in a National Park. Not big on creature comforts, but big on creatures. In fact, I hit a deer with my car about 20 min. before I got there.

 This was my first critter sighting after the deer I hit. Well, and after the small snake that was living by my porch.

 I spent the first couple weeks getting the studio cleaned and organized, de-spiderizing and clearing out the mouse poo. Did I mention that this place is in the middle of the woods? I threw out a bunch of junk, put all the anvils and vises in one room, along with a cabinet full of forming equipment, and asked the blacksmiths to fix the jump shearer, WHICH THEY DID! I set up a little space for myself in the back room, and spent a lot of time there, while classes were running.

 

All in all, I made a lot of things, learned a bunch of stuff and met a ton of really great people. 

And saw a million bugs. 

Next Post: Instructors and the workshops they taught!