Sunday, April 12, 2009

NCECA 2009

The annual clay conference was held in Phoenix, Arizona this past week. I made the trek out west to attend the plethora of events that were held April 8-11, including a pre-conference in Flagstaff from April 6-7. A smaller and more intimate environment at Northern Arizona University allowed 6 visiting artists to demonstrate and lecture about their work with interaction from the audience. These artists included Christa Assad, Eva Kwong, Don Reitz, Brad Schweiger, Karren Massaro and Russel Wrankle, who all had great and varied voices in their work. The slide lectures givin by the artists toward the end of the event were also a great insight to their experiences with clay.

In Phoenix, there were numerous exhibitions that were in conjunction with NCECA and hosted great ceramic works. I get the most out of seeing these shows, while the lectures and panel discussions in the convention center were nice to drop in on from time to time. Perhaps the best part of my trip out here however, was the opportunity to catch up with friends, teachers, and other artists with such a saturation of ceramics. It was great to re-establish connections and meet new people, while also getting wired to get back in the studio and get my hands dirty.
Until next year, cheers!

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