My cousing Richie called at 5:40 a.m. and sang Happy Birthday to me. (Yes, I was up). He's been doing that since my brother moved on to Heaven 10 years ago. Then Keri and Sarah called me on my way to work and Sarah sang "Happy Boofday Gwammy" - that's the only part she remembes - about six times. It was priceless. They will be down tomorrow to help Grammy celebrate and of course, I can't wait. We are having lobster for dinner tomorrow night! Yay!
My 3 days with Hollis and the workshop group was fantastic. We had a lot of fun, we worked really hard, and we learned a lot about drawing. Hollis is a very generous, but strict, taskmaster. She is an incredible teacher and she definitely makes sure you "get it" before moving on. She doesn't tell you to draw something and then show you how to do it right. She gives you direction and she tells you how to look at something to really "see it" from the beginning. This picture is the first morning.
After class Monday afternoon we car pooled to Duke Chapel to see Hollis' exhibit "Imagine Hope" is hanging. I have seen her work on her website and in magazines, but I was so eager and excited to see it in person. You can't imagine how incredible it really is. You swear it is just a painting until you get up very close and see the (over 200) thread colors completing it. Duke Chapel is so huge that her pieces, which are pretty large, are almost swallowed up. But they are still phenomenal. I don't have permission to put her work here, but you definitely need to check out her website, if you haven't already. http://www.hollisart.com/
The workshop was held at the Avila Retreat Center in Durham. It is owned by the Catholic Diocese in Raleigh and run by two nuns, Sister Damien and Sister Cam. They are the warmest, sweetest, and most fun nuns I have ever met. We sang our Wednesday morning blessing (optional) to the tune of the Superman theme. It was hilarious, but still warm and friendly.
In the evenings after dinner we did homework for an hour or two, then gathered in the social room. We had a circle of rocking chairs and had fun telling stories and showing and telling. There was lots of chat and even more laughter. What a great group of women. I am totally looking forward to seeing them all again next year.
After class on Tuesday we carpooled to Hollis' studio. That was wonderful. She showed us her phenomenal amount of fabric and thread. She didn't have any quilts on the walls, but she did have a working drawing up, so we didn't take any photos. Hollis was kind enough to show us how she works and she even gave us a demonstration of how she threadpaints. All I could do was shake my head in awe.
Mary Corcoran is one of the facilitators of the workshop. She is also a member of PAQA-South and I hope to see her at the Spring working retreat at Mary Beth Bellah's in Charlottesville, VA in May. Mary is also on the NC Symposium Board. The 2009 Symposium will be in Raleigh and Hollis will be teaching a class or two, so I will definitely be in on that. Life is good today. No - life is GREAT today!
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