I thought that posting on my return would be a sad thing, but I am still so hyped up on all that I learned & the fabulous people I met that I'm still on cloud 9.
For those that don't know, Glass Stock (GS from now on) is a 4 day lampwork festival put on by Deb Crowley in Oregon once a year. Attendees are selected by lottery from the numerous applicants. Approximately 1/2 the attendees are returnees. The rest are all newcomers to the event like me.
Deb had a meet & greet at her house on Wednesday night prior to the actual event. It was nice to see who else would be there though also a bit overwhelming....maybe due in part to my long plane ride, but all my fab roomies were also newbies so I felt safe. Early the next morning immediately following the safety meeting, everyone had to do a demo. I had been dreading this for some time, but being that my name was somewhere near the middle, I had a chance to watch others and my fear subsided somewhat. Here I am doing my demo (photo courtesy of Maggie MacDonald)
Classes started following lunch. I can't remember the order but I had an enameling class with Jennifer Geldard and a fun wire crochet class with Doretha Jones, AKA Dr. Meow. I had an electroforming and PMC class with Bernie and sat in on an incredible fish bead class with Deb. There was a fab class taught by the amazing Mark McCourt on his curly pendants. He's a wonderful, patient instructor with a lovely humble way about him. Last but not least was a coil potted and hollow bead class taught by Hugh Salkind of Eugene Glass School.
There were also some fun night time activities, such as pajama jam and crazy hat night and a few other fun things plus open torch every night where you could practice what you had learned during the day.
I felt so energized and inspired watching all these hugely talented glass artists demo for us and have them share their techniques with us so freely. Huge kudos to Deb Crowley for putting this all together for us. I can't imagine how much work & planning goes into such an event and I feel blessed to have been able to attend. Thanks Deb!
Roze rockin' the torch:
My roomies:
