The Holiday Open House was a huge success! Many thanks to everyone who came, and special thanks to the artists who spent the day doing demonstrations. I've received a lot of feedback from customers, and they all had a great time. For those of you who couldn't attend, here's a recap of the day:
Ruthmari Andersen did demonstrations of glass bead making, and customers got to try and make a bead themselves. People were amazingly good at this on their first try! I even gave it a try myself, and I must say it's as fun as it looks. Of course, working with a torch and melting things is always high on my list of fun things to do. Ruthmari's will be teaching a Tuesday night bead making class in the Winter 2008 session.
Judi Hendricks taught customers how to make a pendant using
Art Clay Silver. This was the most popular table at the event- Judi was barley visible amongst the throngs of eager students. For those of you not familiar with Art Clay Silver, it's a medium that can be worked like clay- rolled, molded, stamped, etc. After it dries, it is fired with a torch or in a small kiln, and the resulting piece is 99.9% pure silver. Pretty cool stuff. Very intricate pieces can be made in a few hours, and there are no metalworking skills required. Judi's Art Clay Silver workshops meet once a month, on Saturday afternoons.
Rob Stotts demonstrated oil painting techniques. He's an amazing artist- one of those guys who can master any medium. He's an industrial designer by trade, and is currently the senior designer at the
Museum of Science and Industry, heading their massive multi-million dollar remodel. I am very happy to have Rob as a teacher here at the gallery, because he is an excellent craftsman, and has a great teaching philosophy, with an emphasis on a strong foundation of basic design elements, traditional techniques, and a high level of craftsmanship. Rob will be teaching both oil painting and watercolor painting on Wednesday nights in the Winter 2008 session.
Painting by Rob StottsShawn "Happy" Yomine was kind enough to do wheel thrown pottery demonstrations so I could run the front counter. Shawn is one of my new studio renters, and it's been great having him around. It's been a long time since I've had someone I can really talk shop with on a daily basis. Happy got his BFA in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute, one of the best clay programs in the country. He was fortunate to be in one of the last classes to work under Ken Ferguson and Victor Babu. After KCAI he spent 3 years at the
Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT. Happy makes great pots with carved surfaces, as well as amazing sculptures built from wheel thrown elements. Shawn's work is currently on display in the gallery.
Dragon by Shawn YomineSo that was our day. Thanks again to everyone who came! Our next session of classes starts the second week of January. Schedules are available at
HERE.