midway

Halfway through the residency Kait Rhoads(my fellow fellow) and I gave slide presentations and then demonstrated a glassblowing-performance in front of nearly 30 spectators. below are images from that performance:

A large step for ME

We'll i've successfully completed orientation and have technically begun a six week residency at the Creative Glass Center of America.
Finally an opportunity to get back to glass(which i've been away from for the past two months whilst fixing roofs and butchering sheep.) and focus on my own work.
My hopes and excitement have been elevated all the more with the knowledge that i'll start my residency with my friend and colleague Josie Gluck as my assistant.
keep an eye out...i'll have lots to show.

the aftermath

easing into life again...i miss you...come back.
restless sleep without the bourbon or the laughter.
lots to do.
made twelve bucks off the empties...the ones i could return that weren't covered in pig grease.
finally got rid of the garbage too. yikes.
almost back to normal.

what's next. off to Salem Art Works tomorrow for four days to teach: an artistic experience in glass. then next weekend i'm sure you're all coming to our fundaiser: a moveable feast
come check it out.

http://www.salemartworks.com/AugustEvents2008

until later enjoy this:

blessed

on a rainy thursday afternoon they started to arrive despite forecasts for dreadfully rainy weather throughout the entire weekend. it started with a pregnant couple who came with about a hundred pounds of prepared foods for this rapidly growing beloved parasite that we get to keep when it finally comes out.
by mid day on friday the lousy weather man had thus far been correct. torrential down pours with dramatic thunder and lightning striking and then receeding only to return with refreshed artillery. i ran off to blow glass attempting to focus on the 18 inch diameter bowls i was trying to make rather than the possibility that i might not get to see my dear friends due to the spreading rumor that my family farm in tunbridge had been swallowed up like atlantis.
but they showed and they kept showing. nearly a hundred people bearing down on the earth to celebrate the 129th annual P.I.A.P.R.I. and that is not counting the large number of babies who tethered the sunshine with their wondrous gazes and silky hair to burn the clouds away and give us a weekend of clear dry weather, warmth and laughter making the fifth pig roast at vista alegre farm the first piglet roast ever.
yes it is true that the gods saw these wondrous little beings converge and knelt down before them. a reality powerfully evidenced by the fact that as the second to last car drove away on sunday evening the clouds gathered above the towering pine tree and cried large crisp droplets. streams of happiness and sadness flowing through the trampled grass washing away mounds of pig grease and vomit. oh what wonders.

thank you all!!

updating

So, i'm updating my last posts with some of the pictures that i wished to share. shouldn't take too long to go back through.
cheers,

Wow-
ok so i'm back. it is amazing how one, that being me, can let things go so easily.
for shame i say.
anyway. so yeah bolivia.
what an incredible experience.
learning about large scale glass furnaces. how they are constructed. how they function. how to make them efficient. then translating all that into spanish supplemented by lots of charades.
what constantly overwhelms and inspires me is the ingenuity i find in the people from that part of the world. a lifestyle i hope to emulate in the south american microcosm my parents made on our farm...and beyond. how a group of people who want to develop factory glass figure out how to do it quite successfully relying mostly on their eyes and ears to decipher such a project. how the need for refractory materials arises so the guy down the road figures out how to make them and there they are...of pretty damn good quality too. this supported by a working energy that is not to be believed is astonishing.
So after five days there we durk valkema (integrated glass systems) and i produced designs for their new furnace implimenting changes that should save them up to 25% in fuel and increase the quality of the glass that they are melting. i cannot wait to return...hopefully this winter to see how the project has come together and if our ideas and communications worked.

quickie

wanderings followed by parillada and pisco drinks. que suave.

Picante de Lengua

Yeah that's right, for lunch i ate a scrumptious tongue. Still difficult to get over putting a dead animals tongue in my mouth, but once i do...mmm...mmm.mmmmm. Taste...hmmmm, that word seems so different now.

So it's day two. not much sleep last night as my dreams were competing with the bottle rockets and firecrackers for fiesta de san juan. no idea the reason, but it was on, even though they try to prohibit the fireworks due to the cloud of smog that hung around all day today.

The factory however sits on a hill overlooking the smog so it was clear breathing for us. a great day to watch the workers...oh wait they're all drunk and skipping work for the morning. no problem. we consumed our morning with calculations. major hurdles overcome especially clarification of gas consumption...oh you mean the factory only consumes about 45,000 cubic meters of gas per month not 1,800,000 ? Great. it was nice to be given a few duties from durk in the mathematics department and get some good technical explanations from him...next step was to butcher them with my spanish.

spent much of the afternoon watching the workers straggle in and going over details of production and charging the furnace. how to gather out of the furnace in order not to trap bubbles. why it is bad to put 200 kilos of cold glass into the furnace in one go.
anyway, most importantly i had my first opportunity to gather out of the furnace today. it felt great. gonna see if i can take advantage of an open bench here and there over the next few days.

oh yeah, for the nerds here's a bit of info to get you started:
http://www.valkema.com/
and
ME

Day one...I think

So i got on the plane yesterday in Boston. Fell asleep before we took off. We lurched forward and I opened my eyes to see the runway speeding by some unfamiliar buildings. Absolutely no idea where I was. None. It took a few minutes. What a strange feeling. Seems to be happening alot lately.

anyway, somewhere around 17 hours later i landed in Cochabamba Bolivia. Foggy headed from altitude and too many airline breakfasts checked into my hotel and dozed for about an hour before heading to Fabrica Crisil.

Yeah, so i'm here in Cochabamba for five days to act as translator for my friend durk from amsterdam. we are here to design a new furnace for a small production facility on the request of their partner Fairtrade. this is a dutch company that has become involved in promoting fairtrade and improving production facilities in latin america. lots more to that but i stop there.

for now i'll say that i'm a lucky lucky person. i'm in bolivia. in the most comfortable region...it's winter and i'm in shorts and a sweatshirt. i'm helping a dear friend inspect and develop a small glass facility. it's amazing. the people who own and run it seem to be saints. the workers function like a well greased machine, especially after lunch. however it could be a factor of the animal fat that they keep on the marvers so that they can roll the glass in place.
insert amazing pictures and videos here...sadly i left my cord at home so i'll offer some visual evidence of said wonders later.

anyway. my brain hurts from translating though i'm unexpectedly surprised at my spanish capabilities. and i'm tired so i fall face down on my bed and feel the middle of my back relax and sink down into nothing...jump up to finish this my first blog and then...