It is always held in the first two weeks of July and this year I signed up for workshops with Nick Joerling (1 week), Steven Hill ( weekend) and in the second week - handbuilding with Vince Pitelka. A trio of rock stars - all were amazing! You also get to meet other artists from other disciplines and in the evenings there are slide shows by the workshop presenters - all very inspiring and applicable to other disciplines!
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| Path to Auditorium at MISSA |
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| View from the Pottery Studio |
In the creative writing workshop with Sarah Selecky, http://www.sarahselecky.ca/ the class was instructed to take a nap every afternoon to recharge their creativity - evidently when you first wake up - before you mind fills up with the days plans, problems etc, - if you just let your mind drift freely into your project - that is supposedly one of your most creative times. I guess it is just like waking up and coming up with a solution to a problem during the night. I have been trying to think about my pots when I first wake up in the morning - though most mornings the days problems and issues intrude pretty quickly.
Another thing that I learned from one of her students was that they were not to use a computer for their first drafts, but to write by hand, forming each letter slowly. Evidently writing by hand activates the creative part of your brain. Very applicable to pottery I think. I'm always drawing, sketching, often the same thing over and over, imprinting the image into my brain, with just subtle differences and as I turn the pages the images change into something that perhaps I can use.
The writing students says all this worked. I think I would have a hard time doing the first part - taking a nap - as I wouldn't want to miss even a moment of that fabulous time at MISSA.
