Working and then Sight Seeing

Let's meet the artists!





8/01/08 Friday
Refreshing rain and cool conditions, this means that the studio will be a pleasure to work in. Normally the large skylight allows the sun to shine directly on my studio area and it gets pretty warm and the sweat just rolls down my face. I had to begin working on the first block of clay today, marking the guidelines and carving into the surface to create the relief surface. While I did that Yu finished packing the second wood form, makes his hands sore because you basically punch the clay with your fist like a ram. I created a template out of foam core, which will hold the curve of the relief that I will use as a guide. It works out b-e-a-utiful, Chun Hua is really taken by this animated way that I showed her, so much so that she does a little dance every time she says it, she is quite the bundle of energy and has a natural ability with language and a love for it, I think.
I finish the day designing and making some clay tools.

8/02/08 Saturday
Today all the artists were taken on a site seeing tour of Changchun, good thing for me because I was beat. I didn’t sleep well and just felt bad, burned out, so the bus ride worked to my favor. On the way to a large “famous” park I nodded off, I must have looked bad because two or three different folks said I looked “out of it”. The day was over cast and cool, really enjoyable. At the park lots of people flying kites and there were sculptures at all four entrances with the themes of Bounty, Motherly Love, Welcome and the last one was two large figurative works that were male and female nudes. It’s nice to see that there are no hang-ups over having nudes in public spaces here. Another observation…sculpture depicting mother and child seem to almost always show the child as male.
Stopped at the side of the road in the middle of a “famous” bridge that crossed a lake, so that we could take pictures. All I wanted to do was sleep at lunch back at the hotel, but I knew that was the wrong strategy, because then I would be awake all night, a vicious circle, so after lunch, off to the studio to construct the third plywood form and begin filling it with clay. I got my second wind and made good progress and was thankful when the announcement went out that the bus had arrived, it was thirty minutes early. I couldn’t decide if I was more tired or hungry, so after reaching the hotel I fed myself and fell into bed.