Digesting BOYCC 6 weeks later

BOYCC ended up being an inadvertent test for using my cell to make posts.  Looks like it worked!

In the 6 or so weeks since BOYCC, I've had a lot of time to think on my experiences there.  Yeah, there was the show, with all its attendant ooooh and aaaaah photos.  I brought my very best across the country in a plastic tool box, and got my butt kicked hard (I am so glad I did not risk my Hagens.  Even I would have pointed and laughed at them on the table) but it was a deserved kicking.  I could look at the table and pretty much predict where I was going to place, and I was right about 90% of the time.  There was just amazing, crazy rare things there.

However, it is NOT the show I keep coming back to.

The entire weekend was structured to be the very best of what my friends and I used to call a Hack Session, where we would meet up for a weekend afternoon and work on customs and props over snacks and maybe dinner.  Lots of socializing and brainstorming.  BOYCC had a ton of social time built right in, and lots of food.  This helped me meet folks I hadn't known before, and to rekindle friendships outside of the typical hustle and bustle of Breyerfest.

I also got to exercise my creative mojo in ways I have not in a very very long time.  My first workshop was overglaze painting with Karen Gerhardt.  I haven't painted in about forever, so that was fun, and while overglaze is a bit finicky, I had good results without too much frustration.  Next up was a medallion sculpting class.  This was more intimidating to me, as I had rarely worked in 3D when I was doing a lot of artsy stuff, and I had NO IDEA what to do.  Everyone was doing horses, so I decided to NOT do a horse head, and instead, sculpted a reclining cat from behind.  I've been drawing a lot of cats looking over their shoulders of late.  I was very pleased with how this medallion came out, so when it came time to create a 2 part plaster mold for it, I was scared.  The medallion was done in a non hardening wax clay, and I know it could be destroyed in the casting process.  And I know that it wasn't "precious" it was still hard to let it go enough to create that mold.

The mold making process was more technical, and sort of suited to how I generally do stuff-- methodical, making sure measurements are accurate.  Very conducive to how this vet sees the world and work.  My mold was a success, and my sculpture survived the process to go home with me.

Yesterday,  the dry plaster mold arrived from Southern California, and with it, a pair of bisques of the medallion and a finished art glazed version.  I am amazed that I made this thing.  Joan Berkwitz, who organized and ran BOYCC with Adalee Hude, posted her part of the process on her blog so I will direct you there for photos of the finished work.

I do think I will pursue slip casting more of these, and firing them in such a way I could china paint them and use them as gifts.  The power behind just this idea is staggering to me.  This is why I do this.  It is not about NAN trophies, or cards, or arguing about what the ultimate goal of NAMHSA should be.  It is this being able to spend time with like minded women in creative pursuits that are related but not necessarily the same (my friend Liz La Rose once described performance showing as collaborative work, and she's right).  The other stuff is just small and not truly that important--this stuff will go on even when NAMHSA fails.

Speaking of specialization...

Well, my original intent was to dig up some photos to post today, but I overslept this morning, so that wasn't happening. And then I checked my email on break and this is what I found in my inbox from both Pour Horse and Velasquez Artistry:

Pour Horse Pottery, Velasquez Artistry & a myriad of other artists are most pleased that we will be bringing back BOYC in May of 2011! Yes, this is going to be BOYC, bigger and better than ever. So big in fact, we are giving it another letter- it will be BOYCC- the "Bring Out Your Chinas Convention!" BOYCC will run on a different format than your traditional show. We will have speakers, workshops and demos interspersed throughout the days, as well as a banquet dinner or two, and lots of other goodies and surprises. It will be a shiny weekend of ceramic immersion!


In order to help us prepare for BOYCC '11, we are planning a benefit day *this year* ! We are happy to announce, "Mud Day" 2010! This will be a more casual get-together for pottery pony fans; filled with games, food, a speaker and a workshop, but it will feature a little show- a "Teeny-Tiny Shiny Show," if you will! The date is set for Saturday, May 29th this year. More info can be found below. Class list & registration will be up & running soon!


Mud Day 2010:
http://www.velasquezartistry.com/boycc1

Well, damn.

I doubt I can make Mud Day at this point (we're already planning a CA trip later this summer) but look at BOYCC in 2011!!  Speakers, workshops, demos!  Like an ACTUAL convention.  I think I might plan to go out to that (I presume there will be separate registrations for the show and the stuff--if not, there should be!) since I doubt I'd ever fly with chinas.  Though I did figure out a way I might be able to get my half dozen CM Glazes into a duffle as carry on.  So maybe.

Its so exciting to be a live show enthusiast.  Really.  People moaning for the good old days are missing out.

So anyway.  Hopefully photos next Wednesday.  If I get my act together the way I hope.