Thursday, October 12, 2017

The Penultimate Day At Arrowmont

I skipped dinner tonight. I had a big lunch, and by 4:30 I was absolutely punchy from lack of sleep so I decided to forego the meal, have a couple of glasses of wine, and go straight to bed. It's 11:50 pm EST and I am just now posting so clearly the evening took a different turn. Let me explain.

There was an opening reception for an artist in the main building at Arrowmont tonight. I meant to drop in, but I was busy working. However one of the Arrowmont staff came through our studio towards the end of the show carrying three bottles of wine that were clearly surplus to requirements for the show, and he offhandedly asked if any of us wanted a glass of wine. When some of us said yes, he replied to go to the opening. I asked him if instead I could buy one of the bottles of wine from him. Emily and I already had plans to run out for a bottle of wine right after we finished in the studio before dinner (instead of dinner for me), and scoring a bottle from him would be even better! He replied that if we wouldn't drink it in the studio (against the rules) he would give me one. I agreed, and he gave me a very decent bottle of cabernet sauvignon. Woot!

I ended up staying in the studio till about 8:30 when Emily and I left and came back to the lounge of my dorm to drink the wine. We polished it off over stories of old boyfriends and life, and then Judy joined us. She brought out her bottle of applejack, and we just kept right on going. What a wonderful night! I could have been 20 something, I could have been 30 something, (I couldn't have been 40 something because there was clearly something wrong with me when I was in my forties--I blame Atlanta), but I am 50 something and the experience was timeless.

Now it's almost midnight on the night before the last day (a short day) of class. It has been a good experience: I have learned a lot as Ricky Frank is (after 40 years of honing his craft) a font of knowledge. I'm not ready to go home yet, but I will be after tomorrow. I'll finish up my last few projects (I've already shopped for tools and materials), and have one more evening with my new friends, and then after far too little sleep, I'll be catching the 4 am shuttle on Saturday morning to head home to my sweeties. Tomorrow will be the recap post with the final photos. Now I need some sleep!

4 comments:

Cynthia Morgan said...

Good Lord, I wish I'd been there. Glad you're having fun.

Bill said...

Have you planned where you are putting this workshop? The master bedroom, perhaps?

Brenda Griffith said...

Oh Bill, I have enough studio spaces for everything but stone carving! Enameling will go in with torchwork beadmaking and jewelry.

Bill said...

Do you ever find yourself confused, wandering into the wrong workshop and being distracted into working on something other than what you'd intended to do?