Saturday, July 10, 2010

A Visit To The Folk School



I just returned from a week long trip to the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina where I learned to do mosaics. It was a wonderful week of art, food, and friendship as I created the mirror pictured above and met many new friends both in my class and in other parts of the school. This was my fourth trip to the folk school and it never disappoints me. I decided that on this trip, I would go "electronics free" so that I could concentrate on art, the natural world surrounding me, and the wonderful food prepared daily and served family style in the large dining room.

At first, it was odd not checking my cell phone every few minutes for the latest news, email, or Facebook posting. But after a few hours, I noticed that I was much more focused on my project, was much more conversational, and was able to enjoy every step of my class without wondering what was happening in my pocket.

My mosaics project was extremely fun to work on. We used a method called Pique Assiette which is the art of creating mosaics with broken dishes. Our instructor brought a lovely collection of dishes which we had the pleasure of breaking on the concrete pad outside the studio. We then spent many hours deciding on the placement of each color as we moved the glass around for just the right look.

I took my father's coffee cup with me and decided to break off the handle to use on the middle right hand side of the mirror. A knob from one of Aunt Minnie's tea pot lids is positioned on the bottom right. I found that my favorite part of creating mosaics is cleaning off the finished product. After applying the grout and allowing it to dry a bit, I loved wiping, cleaning, and picking off the grout with a dental tool. I spent over three hours on this task alone.

It was a beautiful week that I will post about for the next several days. I have learned a new art form which I love and so far, retirement is great!!


4 comments:

Connie said...

Looking forward to hearing more. Your tech free week reminds me of my media fast last January. It was a good experience!
The Mirror is beautiful! You have an artistic eye.

GlorV1 said...

Looks like you are starting our your retirement doing the things YOU want to do. How great. Your piece is awesome. I need to learn that craft as well. Yay Shirley!! You go girl. Life gets better and better. Take care. Nice to read your post.

amelia said...

I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures!!
It's good to do things like this upon retirement!!
I have just started one of my dogs as a Therapy Dog and he loves it. I could never have done this if I had been working!!

Shannon & Elizabeth said...

gorgeous job on the project! i LOVE that you incorporated personal ceramic pieces!
and the tech free thing? i am a huge advocate!