Buffalo Creek Art Center was as beautiful as the website had promised when I pulled in last Friday. Its back nestled into the eastern Sierras with Carson Valley laid out in front, each nook of the property offers a new corner to explore. And off the property, there are lots of mountains waiting to be hiked!
On my first day here, I set up my studio space with a large window over looking the mountains and was also introduced to one of my studio mates Harry Pollit who was working on carving an abstract wax form that will later be cast into glass. Our other studio mate Austen Brantley, who creates figurative work in clay, joined us a few days later and the three of us have settled into a rhythm of studio life.
I got to work using two different types of porcelain that I had wanted to experiment with to attempt to create very thin edged forms similar to those in my Bone Series but a little more delicate. It’s pretty warm here and it’s hard to get these thin forms to dry slowly, so cracks started forming quickly, I also lost a few pieces to wind and general studio casualties but the survivors are loaded in the kiln and we’ll see how well they do in the firing. In the meantime, I also have been taking the time to work on some tedious umbel forms that I just never gave myself the time to create in my own studio. It’s been an interesting first week of my residency and I’m looking forward to the next three. Tomorrow I’ll unload the first bisque, assess the experiments and continue the problem solving from there.