In terms of travel, this has been a particularly busy year for me. I started the year with an Australia Council funded residency in Bristol at the University of the West of England, which occasioned several side trips around England, as well as to Berlin, Munich and Edinburgh. About midway through the year I found out that I had won a prize in the Cheongju International Craft Competition in South Korea, so soon after I headed over there to accept my award, where I took in parts of Seoul and Cheougju.
Just last week, on Friday in fact, I arrived back from another overseas adventure. This trip to Seattle was sponsored by TurboNerd, or more correctly, his future employers. In Washington State I staked out the Pratt fine Arts Center and Danaca Design, both places where a wayward jeweller might find a place to stretch her saw-frame, if she happened to be without her own studio for a time. At Pratt I met jewellery studio minder Joshua Mans, while the next day I found Dana Cassara, of Danaca fame, still in her shop/gallery having finished a morning class in the workshops beyond. She is the current president of the Seattle Metals Guild, so I was honoured to be given a personal tour of her teaching/workshop space.
By now you’ve figured out where this is going. In March I’m moving to Seattle, following a little bit after His Nerdness, who has accepted a new position with Amazon (yup, that one.) We’re leaving Melbourne to live in Seattle, in Washington state, for the foreseeable future.
I’ll be around these parts for a few months yet, so hopefully I’ll be seeing you at one or two openings that I’m involved in during the early months of 2012. Early February sees the opening of the JoyaViva exhibition in Melbourne, while late Feb is my solo show at Studio 20/17 in Sydney.
Like I said earlier, I thought this year was busy…!