Ant Farm for a Party of One
The weekend seminar for mosaics was the most peculiar course I had ever taught. All but two of the students for the weekend cancelled the week before or the day of the course. When I set up my equipment at the school in Bamberg there was only one student there, a soft-spoken anesthesia nurse I’ll call Edith. As I began to introduce Edith to the accouterments of the mosaic artist and time passed placidly by, it soon became clear that there were to be no others in attendance. Even the person in whose honor a birthday celebration was to be held after class that night did not show. So the owner of the school, her sister, me and my one faithful student celebrated anyway with a beautifully prepared dinner and a Mississippi Mud Pie. And quiet Edith had a private tutor for the weekend, access to expensive equipment, and was the new guest of honor at a dinner party. Life should be like that on occasion. I once attended a Tango dance class of only two and ended up having a more or less private lesson. The same thing happened once with a class taught by masters of Southern Indian Dance. I was the only member of the community to show up for this gift and had a great time pretending to be a monkey and dancing with bare-breasted bare-foot men and following the movements of women in creamy pastel saris.Now it was my turn to deliver on this good karma I suppose.
Since there was just one student for my weekend seminar and I didn’t want to hover over her work too much, I made the seminar two days instead of three and worked on demonstration mosaics during the lesson. I finished both of demonstrator mosaics on Sunday. “Ant Farm” in the picture above, demonstrates different cutting techniques for ceramic tiles and stones using the pointed hammer and hardie, tile nippers, and a wet saw.
The weekend seminar for mosaics was the most peculiar course I had ever taught. All but two of the students for the weekend cancelled the week before or the day of the course. When I set up my equipment at the school in Bamberg there was only one student there, a soft-spoken anesthesia nurse I’ll call Edith. As I began to introduce Edith to the accouterments of the mosaic artist and time passed placidly by, it soon became clear that there were to be no others in attendance. Even the person in whose honor a birthday celebration was to be held after class that night did not show. So the owner of the school, her sister, me and my one faithful student celebrated anyway with a beautifully prepared dinner and a Mississippi Mud Pie. And quiet Edith had a private tutor for the weekend, access to expensive equipment, and was the new guest of honor at a dinner party. Life should be like that on occasion. I once attended a Tango dance class of only two and ended up having a more or less private lesson. The same thing happened once with a class taught by masters of Southern Indian Dance. I was the only member of the community to show up for this gift and had a great time pretending to be a monkey and dancing with bare-breasted bare-foot men and following the movements of women in creamy pastel saris.Now it was my turn to deliver on this good karma I suppose.
Since there was just one student for my weekend seminar and I didn’t want to hover over her work too much, I made the seminar two days instead of three and worked on demonstration mosaics during the lesson. I finished both of demonstrator mosaics on Sunday. “Ant Farm” in the picture above, demonstrates different cutting techniques for ceramic tiles and stones using the pointed hammer and hardie, tile nippers, and a wet saw.
No comments:
Post a Comment