Getting Ready to Set Sail

I have had a strong desire to return to California for a visit.  My previous visit was terrific.  I feel like I made some very real connections with folks there.  And I really want to spend a little time with those giant trees.  So will begin the Spring Tour.  I leave on the 16th of April, and will travel West to Seattle and then South along the coast.  I hope to visit several friends and studios along the way.  I had been planning this trip, to come back to Bozeman before heading East in late May/early June (the Summer Tour).  Word of my father's health has redirected my plans a bit - I will now be going to Oklahoma between California and the East Coast.  I had just signed up for a P.O. Box in Bozeman when I got the news.  Seems like the Universe doesn't want to let me settle down just yet.

    I have a workshop scheduled at Bay Area Glass Institute for April 21 & 22, where I will be teaching folks about the glass blowing molds I use and how to make them out of just about anything.  I blew a little glass here on my previous visit, it is a really nice facility, and I am looking forward to a return.
    The following weekend I have been invited to have a show & will be the lead demonstration for Public Glass' Hot Glass Cold Beer fundraising event.  Followed by a workshop the following week. I am going to do my best to work in any additional visiting artist demonstrations in between.  Exciting stuff!
    I am making the work for the show here,  the concept being a play on the 99 bottles of beer on the wall song, instead being 99 bowls made of glass on the wall.  I have been making these little dishes and I think it would be pretty neat to display them.  It is a culmination of the work I have done here in Bozeman, and what the experience has taught me.  Making multiples becomes meditation.  Making glass keeps me on the right path, in a healthy state of mind.  I had no idea what was in store for me when I came back here.  That I would learn an entirely new aspect of glass.  That I would be welcomed with open arms & such generosity.  That I would get to collaborate and play like I have not done in a very long time.  It has helped me work through some very intense moments.