Heat and Illumination

It's July and the Big Sculptor has turned on the kiln outside to a "candling" temperature. This slow, low heat begins the maturation process in most clay bodies, but as far as I can see, when applied to human bodies, the opposite occurs. I personally mostly want to sit on a shaded cement floor eating ice cream with a fan on "high".
I had a tremendously productive week at the "Paper Clay & You" workshop in Idyllwild, CA. Up there in the San Bernadino mountains around 5-6000 feet above sea level, my concepts and dreams were elevated and my technical knowledge augmented far beyond my original goal for the class.
Although I went up there fully supplied, I came back with a whole new box of tools, so to speak. Working with paper clay under the spirited and uber-creative force that is Rosette Gault broke down many of my misconceptions about how clay ought to work.
As these things sometimes go, a wonderful thread of inspiration teamed up with a new-found set of technical skills and my next series of sculpture is taking shape clearly both in my head and in my sketchbook. I have generally worked very intuitively--often following a muse who is adventurous but occasionally very unpredictable. But the spirit who has whispered in my ear in the last week is fairly determined to set a course that requires some research into a specific area of concern: I am looking for historically documented women who have, in the course of their more-or-less everyday lives, been inspired to dig deeper and reach higher than expected, perhaps intellectually, perhaps intuitively, and in doing so, have created something bigger than their limited circumstances would have predicted. There are many women who have a fairly well known place in history for rising above their given "station". However, I feel drawn to find those whose contributions to history may not have been acknowledged by the world at large.
Stay tuned to see how this challenge develops...