I went to Pilchuck!

Pilchuck roundtable discussion group, 2009

Originally posted April 1, 2011

In 2009 and 2010 I attended a Professional Artists in Residency (PAIRS) program at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, organized by Steve Klein and Richard Parrish. Bullseye Glass co-sponsored by generously supplying our materials. Our task was to individually work on projects that would further our art, explore a new direction or perhaps work out solutions to an ongoing challenge. We had the support of morning roundtable discussions to ask for feedback, work out concerns and share successes.

After the 2009 session, I returned to the studio with the inkling of a new direction I wanted to pursue, which was to experiment with depth and imagery in thicker pieces.

As we wrapped up our 2010 session, we were thrilled to hear that the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington was interested in us as a group exhibit.

I returned home in September anxious to expand my concept beyond the test pieces I’d made at Pilchuck but needed to dedicate myself to Art Trails Open Studio preparations, which took most of my time until mid-October.

With a deadline of December 1st for photos of my submissions, November was spent experimenting, sketching, assembling, reassembling, troubleshooting, and firing my new body of work.

I emailed photographs of five pieces (on December 1st!) and learned a few weeks later that all five had been curated into the show, which opened on March 12, 2011. I’m proud to have been included in this amazingly generous and talented group of artists and I’m so excited with the possibilities I see in these new wall works.

I invite you to visit the Museum’s link and check out fellow artist Steve Immerman’s virtual-tour video and the Pilchuck Residency video by Bullseye Glass. Shown below on the left is the test piece and on the right, one of my finished wall pieces, entitled Do you?

Test piece

Do You?