This past week has been busy with concentrated studio time and lots of fun adventures too. I’m working on my very thin Bone Series pieces which I honestly haven’t worked with in a year since being in Iceland, so there was a bit of a learning curve to get back into these guys. I’ve definitely had my share of failures with them too, learning what this new clay will or won’t do and dealing with the heat drying the pieces too quickly is always tricky, but I’ve started to have a few successes. I’m hoping that I’ll get better at making them and be able to go larger and more varied in shape as I continue. The last photo above shows some dried flower heads of a ginger plant with the seeds about to burst that I found while hiking, I couldn’t help but see the similarities to my own work.
I’ve been taking a few mini adventures as well, finding some great hiking trails just outside of town, visiting the Tao or Buddhist temples that are scattered all over the area , visiting nearby towns and taking in the scene at the night markets where you can eat everything from duck tongue to fried squid on a stick – it’s definitely a feast for the eyes and mouth! Visiting the National Palace Museum was impressive with its collection of Chinese art known especially for its carved jadeite green cabbage sculpture. Tomorrow I head back up in the mountains for my first official clay class with 4th grade students and this weekend I’ll be participating in a little Art Market sale at the museum – should be fun!