When I started my job here, the wise Mr. Wallace warned me (insert Sam’s accent if you can…) “Don’t you get the office fever.” When I asked what he meant, he replied “The studio building is right across that street there.”
While administrative work is rewarding and has its own charm and creativity, let’s face it: office fever is a very real thing. Last week when it started to set in, I followed Sam’s advice and went across the street to say hello to our new short term resident artist, Misty Gamble, and to check out what was happening with summer camps.
Misty was working hard in her studio. I didn’t want to interrupt, but she invited me to sit down and within moments, we were in thick conversation about panty dinnerware sets and sexy chickens, how to sustain a “goal diet”, the intersection of veganism and feminism which led, naturally, to farm subsidies and reproductive rights, and what it might feel like to have a hoop skirt on your head. She gave a great talk about her work last night, which you can catch on our Facebook Page.
The artists downstairs were also working hard making protective animal sculptures inspired by Haechi. One artist was working on a dog with very pronounced tube shaped lips. The lips, the artist claimed, were shaped specifically to suck bad dreams out of the air. Who doesn’t need one of those? Or two, even?
It is such a unique privilege to engage with artists about their creative processes; I’m so grateful. And Sam was right, if you feel the office fever coming on, getting into the Clayworks studio building will probably cure it.
See you soon,
Cyndi
[Photo: Misty Gamble teaching her June workshop. Photo by Jani Hileman.]