Pictures from La Cascade (Oct. 2008 workshop site)

Here are some pictures taken at La Cascade, an artists' retreat in the medieval village of Durfort, France, the site of my October "French Connection" 5-day workshop. Penina, a student I had in Sacramento last week, had studied there last summer and said it was the most quaint place she'd ever been to and that it was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Owner Gwen Gibson just sent me these pictures, which were taken by Denise Andersen (thank you!). There are still spaces available and I am looking forward to this in-depth, inspiring study experience! Visit the Calendar page on my website for details...

My Craft Cast interview

Craft Cast has just published an interview with me on the web. If interested you can go to www.craftcast.com/.

New Work for the New Year

Here you see two images of new work that is not even on my website yet.  This continues within my recent "Pod" series where I make use of tiny organic forms and reinterpret them on a different scale. The series began with the idea that a pod is a hollow container designed to hold and protect something that is fragile and important. This idea seemed appropriate for the function of an evening bag as well, and so began the series.

So, expanding on that original idea, I noticed some beautiful tall grass blowing in the wind by the side of the road with purple tips, green and peachy stalks and I thought, "What beautiful grass.  Now, what can I do with that to make a purse?"  After doing some drawings and thinking about it for quite a long time, I came up with "Blowing Grass Purse." (Catchy title, huh?) I am very excited about this piece!

Ideas like this come about because I feel my job as an artist includes "paying attention". Earlier in my life when we lived in big cities, in other countries, while I was raising a family, I was paying attention to the stages in my life, paying attention to the lives of other women, and I tried to pay attention to my inner life. All of this is reflected in earlier purses that you can see on my website. Now, with more time and living in the woods of New Hampshire, I am paying attention to nature, not because I ever intended to but because it has pretty much forced itself upon me.  I used to resist being "inspired by nature" because it seemed like an overused theme for artists. Now, here I am looking at grass and reinterpreting it in colored plastic in the form of a purse.

By paying attention and then putting it somehow into my work, I hope then to open other's eyes and perhaps enable them to pay attention: to life, to the world, to people, to whatever they might be missing at the moment.

Edible Neckpieces at the Istanbul Bead Conference

My Istanbul Workshop and Meeting a Wonderful Turkish Polymer Artist

Over Thanksgiving week in late November my husband and I were at the International Bead and Beadwork Conference in the most fascinating city in the world, Istanbul, where I taught a workshop and gave a presentation on the "Early Development of Polymer Clay in Beadmaking". With leading bead experts and artists from around the world, the conference promised to be exciting and parts of it were, but unfortunately due to incredible mismanagement and disorganization as well as alleged criminal behavior on the part of the organizer, it left a sour taste in just about everyone's mouth.

The best part for me were the 11 students in the workshop I taught who came from Turkey, Israel, the UK, Belgium and the US. We had a terrific time despite a few language barriers and I actually had to use what little Turkish I can speak (I lived in Ankara, Turkey from 1989 to 1993). They all produced very nice pieces in spite of the strange oven we had. Fortunately a previous student and friend of mine, Lorna Woods-Johns, was there to manage the oven.

Something else I loved at the conference was a display of edible neckpieces on black mannequins. They were bold assemblages of dried fruit, dried peppers, dried flowers, dried spices, candies including Turkish Delight, pastries, etc. and were spectacular. There was also a nice exhibit of contemporary art glass beads put on by the Bead Museum in Glendale, Arizona entitled "Trajectories" and an exhibit of a Turkish woman's collection of ancient beads by themselves and then how she put them together into interesting contemporary designs. This exhibit was entitled "From Collection to Creation."

The most incredible part of the whole Istanbul trip, though, was meeting a Turkish artist named Alev Gozonar who began working with polymer clay only a couple of years ago after her sister had been to the U.S. and was introduced to it. Alev's website is www.alevg.com and she does very contemporary wallpieces using Fimo with plexiglas or wood. Some of her pieces include hundreds of millefiore slices floating around under plexiglas and some include many polymer covered wood blocks mounted on plexiglas. She's just finishing up a commission for a hotel lobby in which 300 wood blocks covered in polymer are mounted on the wall. I am very impressed by her work and we became instant friends.

It is my intention to post to my blog at the beginning of every month. I want to mention here that I will be teaching a workshop in the small village of Durfort, France at La Cascade, a medieval artist's retreat, the first week of October, 2008. It promises to be a uniquely rewarding experience for students and teacher alike, and we will be making a purse. Go to www.gwengibson.com for details.

Another work in progress...

Not sure yet how this works, but welcome to my blog!  I've been very very busy lately -- still unpacking from the International Bead and Beadwork Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, in late November, then immediately into a show in Boston.  I had a wonderful time teaching a workshop at the Istanbul conference and was honored to present a paper on the history of polymer clay beadmaking, which got its start here in the United States.  However, the overall conference itself was very problematic and the issue with presenters and teachers not being compensated, as agreed, probably is becoming well known in the international art community.  It was a double tragedy for those, like myself, who have such long and fond memories of Turkey and the warm and friendly Turkish people.  I will have more to say on this subject and my super Istanbul polymer clay students when I have had time to recover from the past 2 weeks!

Kathleen