The Nightmare Continues

Nearly a month has passed and I still find myself without a computer and having to steal moments with borrowed computers to post.  I apologize wholeheartedly and hope to have this remedied soon - at which point I will resume regular posts.

In the mean time, get outside and enjoy the spring.  It's a startlingly good one here in the northwest and I hope you have similar where you are.

Folk School Day 5 - Fire and Song

Hill House

Thursday morning dawned early as always, without the fog we've had the last few days.  The rain overnight washed away the humidity and it was perfect outside.  I couldn't wait to sprawl out on the benches outside the studio and work through the new songs we were to learn.

Before that, however, we had Morning Song.  Thursday morning we got a bit of a treat.  Our teacher, David Brose, hosted Morning Song along with one of the students in our class, Allie.  Allie is a guitar player and singer for the Whipstitch Sallies, a bluegrass and mountain music group from Indianapolis - a startlingly good musician in her own right.  She and David sang a few songs and generally had a good time, as did those of us in the audience.  I have pics from the performance that I will put up here shortly once I can find them.

Raku Pottery Just as the
Kiln Is Opened

After breakfast everyone got down to the business of finishing up their various tasks and projects in time for the closing ceremonies the next day.  For our part we continued to work on our two songs for the performance, Old Joe Clark and Cripple Creek.  I swear that f-chord is getting closer to good on my part.

That evening we were treated to one of the more spectacular aspects of pottery - a Raku firing.  Raku pottery is a style of glazing wherein the glazed pot is heated to red hot before being placed in contact with organic matter (in this case, shredded newspaper).  The chemical interactions that go on, both due to the burning material and the control of air exposure, transform the simple glazing in a myriad of colors and materials - in some cases resulting in raw metals on the surface and sometimes causing the glaze to craze and crack into a jigsaw of shapes and angles.  It's all very beautiful and great fun to watch.

Finished Raku Pottery

After the Raku firing I waltzed over to the jewelry studio to see what they were up to.  The myriad of materials and treatments were dizzying but great to see.  They've been working with both molten metals in molds made of cuttlefish bones (leaving an interesting fingerprint-like texture on the molded metal) as well as beaten metals like copper beads and bracelets.  As with any class at the school, they were more than happy to show off their handiwork and to give demonstrations of certain techniques.

Every day here seems filled with both art and music. Even as I grow more and more tired from all the activity and the long days, I revel in the sounds and sights around me.  Everywhere one looks there is art and song and it excites me, making the gooseflesh rise up on my neck to think of it.  This is a special place and I feel more than fortunate to have been given the opportunity to experience this even once in my life.  I envy those people who profess to have been to the school dozens of time, but that does not dampen my enjoyment of the week one whit.  And to think, I have a whole day and a half ahead of me!

A Good Showing

Please excuse the slight pause in my reporting on my amazing trip to the John C. Campbell Folk School.  Sadly, my computer troubles continue and thus my photos of the event are locked securely within a failing and mistrustful hard drive.  In the mean time, we have exciting news to share.  Our white male suri alpaca, Sweet 16's Romeo, showed very well at the PNAA Alpaca Showcase in Pasco, WA last weekend.  Romeo was the darling of the white juvenile male category, winning both first in his class as well as Reserve Champion for white males.  We were so thrilled and excited, I can't wait to get photos up here (soon!  I swear, soon!).