Artisphere

This weekend I am representing the Clemson University Visual Arts Department at Artisphere, which as an arts festival in Greenville, SC. I have recently learned that it is one of the top arts festivals in the nation, so I can not believe I have never been to it or really even heard of it before. The event is full of performances, artists and educational opportunities for kids plus its super fun. The list of all the wonderfully talented artists can be found here. Today, I was reminded of how helpful and supportive the arts community is. I had the chance to talk to many ceramics artists about what they do, the materials they use and how they do what they do. I learned about some new clay bodies from Larry Allen and I talked to Pat McCaffrey about classes at Penland. I also talked to artists working in other mediums such as Amber Marshall who works with glass and Lisa Morris who uses old sewing patterns to create beautiful drawings. It is always refreshing and a burst of inspiration when I am able to see and learn about the work of so many innovative artists firsthand. I highly recommend for everyone to check Artisphere out even if you do not consider yourself an artist, it will still be interesting and educational. If you have kids, they will enjoy it too! This years event has one more day, tomorrow, but there is always next year so put it on your bucket list!

Above is a picture of Brent teaching a future artist about clay and the wheel. It was great opportunity to educate the community about my favorite thing, clay! We had a large audience, ranging from the littlest artists to the saintly seniors, and everyone had a variety of questions for us to answer and ponder upon. Though demo-ing for two days straight (about to be 3) is exhausting, it was definitely worth it!