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Oil and Wax Workshop



This past weekend I had a wonderfully enthusiastic and intense group of students for my Oil and Wax workshop at my studio.  Here are some images of the studio cleaned up for the workshop, with some of my new work on the walls. I've been working long, long hours, almost obsessively this summer, creating a new body of work that is becoming non-objective. It's been an incredibly powerful summer of work.  I read once in the book, "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.....and this is not a quote but a remembering...that if you stand in the way of the gods, they will go with you.  I feel like I have been swept along this summer in a wind so strong that I've had no choice but to go with it.  I'm getting ready for my show at Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville which opens October 22nd.

But meanwhile it was a fabulous class here at the studio.  Much sharing and learning happened and some really exciting work was produced.

We talked during the workshop about the difficulties of being an artist, about the courage it takes to keep going, to keep experimenting and growing; about getting back to the studio after a long absence from illness.

At the end of the workshop, I read them this quote by Martha Graham from the book, "The Life and Work of Martha Graham" by Agnes de Mille.


"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action: and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.  If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.  The world will not have it.  You must keep that channel open.  It is not for you to determine how good it is, nor how valuable.  Nor how it compares with other expressions.  It is for you to keep it yours, clearly and directly."
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  1. Rebecca CrowellSeptember 2, 2010 at 9:05 PM

    Great post and glad your class went so well! Your students really had a nice space to work in, with some inspiring work on the walls.

    ReplyDelete

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