Another trip to Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts has left my mind moving in all directions. The class was called Finding the Souls of Forgotten Things and was taught by Geoffery Gorman. I was first introduced to his work in 2011 when he was featured in the magazine American Craft. I was so enthralled that I cut out the article pictures and glued them into my Ideas and Really Cool Stuff book, with his artwork falling into the really cool category since I knew that there was no way I was going to get the opportunity to learn how he made his pieces. As I perused this year's catalog I was immediately stopped by a picture of Mr. Gorman's work, with him teaching the class. Weeee!!... wait, it was a two week class. Hum, how was I going to swing this? Once again, I am blessed to have a husband who knows how important these classes are to me. With his and Mother-in-law's (room and transportation) generosity I was able to enjoy another art filled time.
Classes start Sunday evening, usually with a quick introduction of class members and an overview of what is to be taught. This allows us to be off and running on Monday morning. This technique starts out with carving taxidermy foam into the desired shape. Mr. Gorman's focus is animal shapes but we were free to choose our path. Having never done carving previously, my first rabbit attempt looked like a very small dinosaur head. It just kept getting worse the more I tried to fix it. It finally somewhat resembled a piglet. My second attempt was a success. Next you cover the foam, wrap in wire, add adornments, then rust. The 2 yellow beads, which I used in the eyes along with bottle caps and shinny black beads, just fell of my tool box when I was searching for something else. One of those serendipitous moments. The nose and ears were cut from a metal cigar box. To give Mr. Rabbit some life, I added a crank movement to a thrift store box so the head will bob and spin around.
The bat was my first project attempted. I have been watching (almost addicted to) YouTube videos of rescued and rehabilitated fruit bats in Australia. They are adorable. These bats are not like the bats we are accustomed to here so I had to introduce the teacher to them so he could see where I was heading with my project. His wing span is 16 inches with a body height of 14 inches including his legs. I had hoped to have movement in his wings but it has not happen as of yet. This is not from the lack of trying and I have the pulley positioned on the wooden stand for this reason. It will happen at some point, he will let me know when he is ready. I started with this because the shapes were not complicated and I could get the technique figured out. It still took some time to get the body as I wanted, it was huge and needed to be correctly shaped but once that was done I knew what size to make the head.
He really came to life with the addition of the ears. Both the ears and the nose are made from used bike inner tubes. I wish the shinny beads had been available for his eyes like with the rabbit. This is something I can do at a later date. I love the depth they add to the face.
There are 2 more projects that were completed during class that I will share next time. Well, one completed and one I would like to add more wire to and rust again.
Our family has grown in the last three weeks with the addition of out first grandson. He had to be in the NICU for 5 days which was unnerving (apparently it is not as uncommon as one would think), but he is doing well. Daughter-in-law has to go dairy free while she breastfeeds so she may be out of sorts for a while, she loves cheese. We are hoping he will outgrow the problem.
So life has been a whirl wind: 2 week art class, busy work week playing catch up, grandson coming into the world, 3 trips to his hometown while in hospital(1.5 hrs away), another busy week playing catch up and now I have a cold. Husband has been taking good care of me making sure I am hydrated and fed. Next weekend is a family reunion in North Georgia and the next is a visit to the grand kids, both of which I am excited about. I am glad to have the cold now to get it out of the way. That's how it works, isn't it?
Wishing you a peaceful Sunday!
Hilari
#arrowmont #craftexperience
