so, last time i wrote about the daily in my life was at the beginning of an unassuming summer, just when things were rolling on into the next thing which was slow in coming.

for the first time in YEARS i attended a ‘high caliber’ event here in town, the southwest makers symposium held at form+concept gallery and that had been eluding me the years past.

but this time it was meant to be, got a surprise invitation and was honored with a guest registration ticket from an ancient acquaintance and simply HAD to go!

The Bench – Southwest Makers Symposium 2019

during the course of a weekend, i immersed myself into the depth of discourse of visuals and concepts of an art and craft i have been practicing all my life. saw people i hadn’t seen in years, caught up on the ‘academic’ side of things, taking it all in at once. yes, refreshing, even if it then took me several days to recuperate from the buzzz…

here is harold o’connor (to you harold, at last!) with one of his great pins/pendants:

Harold O’Connor with one of his cool cool pendants/pins

in between it all and with work in progress and in the making…basically all i did at the bench all summer long were squares and circles:

squares and circles in progress

several interruptions came visiting, including the much needed repairs in the studio, which saw construction people and plumbers and electricians roam the space i so dearly guard from strangers for several days, throwing a delaying time wrench into the works…

ahhhh, but the satisfaction of having a functional vent and hood over the stove at last, lights above the entrance outside actually working, a swamp cooler finally blowing in some cool air and, hardly the least important, a much improved shower!

hot it was for weeks on end, time is the studio frantic and in slow motion and the premonition of more change growing stronger by the hour. and still, everything seemed to suddenly accelerate in a bout of decisions-to-make-now.

a big first one was to leave a local market venue i had been doing for the last 7 years, it was draining me beyond the financial, beginning to affect the spirit, which is something you always want to avoid.

last few show-times at SFAM this summer

time to move on. away from the windy and rainy days under the flapping tent, away from unreliable market schedules, away and past the cold and the heat and the complete exhaustion that left me flat for days thereafter, always.

good then!

i caught up with the record keeping put off since the beginning of the year, filed taxes, filed away paperwork and, alas!, everything was neat and stored in envelopes and boxes by the end of august and out of site. done!

i have still to pick up speed in the studio, ride the rhythm of things, but this morning, stepping into the back room, where all the soldering and melting and the messy stuff happens, i am reminded of the practical, in black and white:

metal room, a soldering bench shot

also, after blowing a crockpot, i have finally up my ‘old’, ever new pickling vat, pulled out of yet another box and now equipped with the right plug to fit into the transformer to match the voltage…another good thing.

my italian pickling vat

and and and….i have a tray of ‘candy’ to look into…. squares, squares and more squares to play with.

squares!

happy.

will keep you posted, just stay in the loop.