2009 Poleturners
2009 Poleturners
• Jiří Harcuba - Designer
• Jay Macdonell - Project Manager and Gaffer
• Martin Janecky - Gaffer
• Jeff Ballard - Gaffer
• Kai Scholefield - Coldworking Coordinator
• Susan McDowell - Assistant Project Manager
Phillip Bandura • Timothy Belliveau • Armelle Bouchet • Verity Burley • Granite Calimpong • Pierre Camilien • Nick Davis • K. Leah Duperreault • Ryan Marsh Fairweather • Hector M. Flores • Jessie Bean Goodman • Scott Graham • Carrie Grula • Nadania Idriss • Ian Milligan • Jon Moreno • Karel Novak • Jamie Perian • Michelle K. Rak • Evan Schauss • Bradley Smith • Jennifer Somerville • Vojtech Starosta • Itzell Tazzyman • Sasha Tepper-Stewart • Hugh Willa • Peter Wright
Just the day after the Tulips Awards Ceremony at Sheridan college, I had to catch the morning flight from Toronto (thanks for your foldout couch and the lift to the airport Ainsley! I still have something with your name on it!) making a pitstop in Minneapolis then the second flight was to Seattle, Washington. Pilchuck School of Glass, the final destination took another 2 hrs on the road to Stanwood WA. I was strung out indeed but essentially did not care! The event that occurs here on a yearly basis for the presession of Pilchuck's summer season is called the poletuner’s local union 1201. It's sweet , you basically get to make things out of glass collaborating with a big team and get a room and food for free plus it's out in the forest, I can't think of a better offer, not to mention the food is also amazing.
FYI Did you know in airports across the country now you can actually purchase an ipod out of a vending machine?
Every morning breathing in that misty mountain morning air was a friendly reminder I have to be back out west. Ryan Fairweather, from the Bee kingdom (www.beekingdom.ca) studio located in Calgary was leading a yoga session every morning. I tried my best to make it to all of them. But having fun the night before didn’t make it any easier. There was something going on at Pilchuck literally every night. The 10 days went by so fast, I feel like I’m still absorbing it all. But the main reason I was there was to assist with the production of designer Jiri Harcuba's work. Jiri is a very unique glass engraver and has been going to Pilchuck for years.
The pieces we produced were vessels with graphite compressed bits of glass where Jiri transferred his images on to the graphite. Once the molten bit of glass was ladeled out on to a hot steel surface one of us would keep the surface hot with a propane torch then attach them to a vessel giving off a shiny reduced vintage wax stamp sort of look. here's the link:http://www.pilchuck.com/events/auction_catalog_2009/centerpieces.htm
At the beginning of the whole session, there was a period in the hotshop where prototypes were made to establish what the final design would be. In the timeframe of 10 days we created more than 120 pieces. Each bench in the hotshop of Pichuck had a different role in the whole process of the production of this series contributing to the structure.All of these pieces were placed in the 31st Annual Pilchuck Glass Auction on Friday, October 23rd, 2009. at 5 pm at the Westin Seattle.
Aside from the hotshop there was so much more going on. Every night after dinner, there were slideshow presentations done by The 2009 Hauberg Fellows, which were: Kathy Fruge Brown, Pat Decaro, Joe Feddersen, Barbera Earl Thomas, Cappy Thompson, and Laura Ward. I felt I wasn’t just there for the poleturner's experience. I was also there to connect with other artists. It was amazing to have this place where we could all unite from all over the world and express in the middle of nowhere so close to nature.
Jeff Ballard, Jay Macdonnell, and Martin Janecky were the 3 gaffers that would lead a team of people at a bench to mass produce these pieces
All in all it was an awesome experience and I can't wait to go there again!
