Six weeks

Friends!

It is amazing how fast this year has gone by at Arrowmont, and as we draw in towards its conclusion we find ourselves reflecting on our time while interviewing and answering questions of the ten applicants for the next residency. What a rich, rich year. I have to tell you all that the experience has not been exactly what I expected, but everything I needed, and I have learned so much from the other residents. I know I will reflect on it more and more fondly as time passes. 

For now, its been a whirl though! Phil has finished the Arrowmont Artists-In-Residence's very first catalog which we have all spent a week editing - and it is something to be proud of. The 20th anniversary of the residency is just a few weeks away as well as our end of residency opening on May 5th. 

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching my second wood bending and laminations/coopering class. I had four extremely motivated students who probably had no idea how much work they would be getting themselves into - but they met the challenge face on. We were in the studio from 9am until at least 11:30 pm every night, but we had a wonderful time filled with hard work and just as much laughter. A huge thanks and kudos to Steven, Kimberly, David, and Mer who all made the week an incredible one. 

Pictured is Steven's first jig to cut one side of his barrel staves. This generated two closed coopered forms and he continued to make another completely different piece based on the same mold - not to mention a legacy piece that is hanging from the ceiling in the wood shop. Kimberly came to call the class (quite quickly, I might add) 5 for 5 - five days of hard work and suffering for five minutes of fun. Did I mention we laughed a lot? 

In the studio the previous week I had begun this carving to be the sister piece to the piece I showed on the blog last week. 

I begin with a band saw cut profile and rough out the shape with a 4.5 in angle grinder. Moving in with a smaller air grinder I start to get more specific with the carving. then I move into hand tools and chisels.

The most detailed work involved with the eyes and mouth are cut with an exacto blade. 

And I'm off to continue working on these last two pieces!

Hope you all have a wonderful day. 

Dustin