Sunday, September 29, 2013

Who Knows What the Future WIll Bring

As the astute out there might have noticed, I have changed the name of this blog from Glass Incarnate to Life Incarnate. Life has shifted in focus for me over the past year and it's time for the blog to reflect the changes.

Almost exactly six years ago today my husband and I purchased a 1920's Craftsman bungalow around the corner from our house with a backyard adjoining ours in which to house Siyeh Studio and allow me to move my business out of the basement and into the light. A year later I expanded the vision for my business and opened Siyeh Glass--a Bullseye Kiln Glass Resource Center with a kiln-forming classroom, a 7-torch beadmaking classroom, and a hotshop out back for glass blowing. I added more people to the studio family to teach and staff the facilities. And the wild rumpus began. It was a wild ride and rumpus indeed, and it's time to get off.

So today I closed Siyeh Glass and the hotshop. I no longer have retail hours, regular kiln-forming classes, open studio every day, glassblowing date nights or classes, beadmaking classes, studio elves, or other regular teachers. There are many reasons why I felt compelled to take this step--first among them is a shift in my priorities to my family as my mother has had serious health issues all year and my husband and I are homeschooling our daughter for the first time. But the straws that finally broke me and forced the change now were the hotshop being struck by lightning while I was in Montana this summer (causing the furnace to go out AGAIN), and the website being hacked. I could have spent the money and time to deal with the one and the time and more time to deal with the other, but I just couldn't fix both on top of everything else.

Will I still have open studio? Yes, if someone emails me and asks to come in and work, I'll schedule time for them. Will I still sell Bullseye glass and other glass supplies? Yes, by appointment (again, through email), and probably through a newsletter for people who would like to get in on a large order from Bullseye. Will I still teach/offer classes? Yes, occasionally, and maybe even for a wider variety of media than just glass--I have been approached about leasing space to teachers in other disciplines so they could offer classes in a studio configured for teaching messy hand-crafts.

Mainly I will be focusing on my own production work and getting the website for it--Siyeh Studio--back up. I need to spend time developing new work and nurturing old relationships with my galleries.

Life right now, though, is about a lot more than glass. Deep breath in, out, and moving on...

Saturday, September 07, 2013

Good-bye Montana

Good-bye turkeys
Goodbye lake so crystal clear
Good-bye deer
And the Moose Drool Beer
Good-bye stars
Good-bye cars
Good-bye Smokehouse
And good-bye bunnies
Good-bye grizzlies
And good-bye cherries
Good-bye Going-to-the-sun
And good-bye Wild Goose Island
Good-bye big horns
And good-bye alpaca
Good-bye Hippo
Good-bye snow
Good-bye Fair
But hello hair
Good-bye Montana, wish we could stay there



turkeys
lake
deer
Moose Drool beer
cars
bunnies
grizzly
Going-To-the-Sun
Wild Goose Island
bighorn sheep
alpaca
Happy Hippo
snow
new hair
Western Montana Fair