PROMISES, PROMISES!

It often seems to me that artists with blogs appear to flit off on planes to shows and conferences and give interviews or have spreads in magazines. Well this Friday is my flit off to Canberra time to attend the Residential School for the Distance Diploma in Ceramics http://www.anu.edu.au/art/ceramics/distance_diploma.html, headed by Janet DeBoos (yes, she of the glaze books and some of the coolest porcelain work on the planet).

Soon I will have an array of photos of works of friends whom I know from studying at ANU. It will be Print on Clay work from our Professor Suzanne Wolfe project last June and LARGE thrown vessels and Glaze on Glaze work from the Greg Daly project - http://www.gregdaly.com.au/.

Bowl by Greg Daly

To share the sense of excitement with you - I've had flurries of emails and SMSs with my roommates and co-students across Australia and the globe. I hope many of the Distance Students who usually attend via Red Deer College in Canada will be coming this time too. Having lived in Dublin and London I find Canberra to be a very quiet place, but, last January there were lively lot of about five students from Canada attending, and a bunch of us did Dinner and a dance show called Matthina in the Canberra Theatre, plus a gallery, market crawl - all on top of a week full of classes, talks, slide shows, demos. Honestly - it is pure BLISS for me. One student, Joan, last heard from on a beach in Thailand with sunburn and bugbites, will have just arrived from a long session in China - and several adventures - where she was immersed in ceramics and culture. Between residential schools every six months, students and staff stay in touch via ANU's WebCT - a kind of closed internet setup.

This time the lecturers are Trudy Golley of Red Deer Campus, Canada, her work is seen on the left and on http://www.alluvium.ca/ and, Anne Linneman of Denmark http://annlinnemann-english.blogspot.com/

Fortunately for me, both are intending to visit Fleur Schell's place SODA http://www.sodaresidency.com/index.php - early this year for a while in Fremantle, Western Australia, just over the bridge from my place. Fleur is a remarkably innovative artist - see for yourself www.Fleurschell.com

Bowl by Fleur Schell

who? why? what?

To explain a little bit about myself and why I am doing this, I am currently in the final year of my four year Diploma in Ceramics at ANU by Distance. This means I fly to Canberra from WA every January and June to show my latest project work and discuss where I am heading with my Final Project or Independent Work Proposal (IWP). I'll tell you more about the course and the tutors in later postings.

You may ask why I'd want to study at a University all the way across the huge country that Australia is, in Canberra, when there are plenty of places in Western Australia (WA) to study. At the time I decided to take up my ceramics again there was NOTHING available for someone like me. I had called TAFE and the local universities to enquire about courses that included majoring in ceramics but no joy despite a fantastic ceramics studio having been built in Northbridge, Perth since I'd deferred. My third son was off to school for full days and the possibility of getting back into clay teased me. I needed flexibility to be able to drop everthing and dash back to the school to pick up a sick kid or to attend one of our many appointments. Mostly I needed projects that would inspire and challenge me, and teachers who would teach techniques that would stretch me and create new possibilities. I have not been disappointed at all. Check out this if you are curious... http://www.anu.edu.au/art/ceramics/distance_diploma.html

A workshop with Sandra Black (you have GOT to Google her work) start here http://www.ceramicartswa.asn.au/membersgallery/sandrablack/index.php
turned out to be the intro I needed, she had recently taught at Australian National University (ANU) Canberra and suggested I look into it. Boy am I glad I did.

In the beginning ...

'What you waiting for?'

OK, the grammar in the Gwen Stefani song is lazy but the sentiment is right on. I woke up this morning and thought, stop thinking about it and JUST DO IT! Get that blog started and get documenting your work, life, and thoughts.

I'm a wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend, potter and a few million other roles. This is the BEGINNING of the blog of a student potter trying to get it ALL done and maybe even get some of it FINISHED. I want to use this space to be me but also to introduce you the talented artists, friends and events that make life in Western Australia interesting for me.