Sunday, October 17, 2010

Svenske Sveske

The month of October has been different from the previous two I have spent here at Guldagergaard. I am finally getting the chance to learn Danish because the house is full of Danes! Before there was only one Danish speaker, so she rarely spoke Danish, but now they speak together all the time and I am getting more and more used to the language. I made my first good Danish joke this week when they taught me that "prune" was a term of endearment, like "pumpkin" in English. I remembered that Swedish sounded kind of like prune and thought it would be funny if you had a Swedish boyfriend to call him your "Svenske Sveske" (plus another arist came this past week, Gustaf from Sweden, so we call him that sometimes...)
Karen Lise said it gave me one gold star and that she hopes I can earn more gold stars with more good jokes in Danish.
We drove to Copenhagen this weekend. I decided to spend my last weekend in the city. I toured around by boat and on foot, went to a house-warming party for Katrine's friend and met up with my friend Caitlin's sister, Brittany who just moved here from the states because she married a Dane.
This weekend was a photo finish.

Saturday, October 09, 2010

burning leaves of autumn



Denmark is shedding its leaves and leaving me solemn.
This October is more crisp then those I've passed before.
and I have recently discovered that the leaves are not more orange on the other side of the pond.
They are the same. Somehow I need to keep that fact present in my mind.
I went on a walk today around the lake and took some pictures of me falling into the light of autumn.










Tuesday, October 05, 2010

this week in ceramics

Like The (Potter's) Wheel.

This past week has been interesting at Guldagergaard. We have been working so hard this past month all together and this week 4 artists have packed up and headed back home. They were only staying for a month or two. So now I am at a point where I feel like I should be packing up, because I have worked just as hard, but I still have 3 weeks left here.
Now I am trying to refocus and think of things I want to do for my remaining time here. I made paperclay from some royal copenhagen slip casting clay. That was something I had never done before, but Claire and Merja were working in paper clay and they taught me how. I spread out layers of it slowly on big plaster slab and when it was thick enough I hand-built some tableware. They just came out of the bisque this week, so I am excited to glaze them. See below!
Last night I wrote out some goals so that I could manage my time well. Jody sold me her nice china porcelain clay for a reclaimed price, so now I can try to make some little sculptures that will be able to travel home with me.
Jody and I went to the post office yesterday because we decided mailing stuff home was the best solution. I bought a box and will mail stuff later this week. All of my sculptures are in an exhibition now, so I won't be able to mail them...I will just have to take what I can with me in a carry-on bag I bought from the second hand store last week and give the rest away as presents.
I am getting really excited to visit my parents in Romanis, finish school, graduate,and find a job...in that order. Von has been sending me info on different universities that are hiring ceramic professors. I feel like there are quite a few. That is good news for me.
Other good news is that there is an artist/designer working here, Rikke Hagen, who lives in Copenhagen and comes out to Guldagergaard a couple of times per month. I was feeling like I had too much time on my hands and she offered me a job being her assistant last week. So I will work for her a couple of days a week and get paid. Hopefully I can offset my living costs a little.
And in other good news, Mette offered me a job working their NCECA booth in Tampa this next March. I wasn't planning on going to NCECA, but wanted to be able to see Richard and Mette again. Then she told me I could have a free badge and she could pay me a little. WOW! So here I come Tampa. I've never been there before and I look forward to a new adventure. I will love to tell people about this place. I love Guldagergaard.