Last month, I returned to Minneapolis for the first time in over a decade to teach, present, volunteer, and vend at the
hand papermaking conference hosted by the
Minnesota Center for Book Arts. I was so happy to reunite with my former students, now friends, over nearly a week in the strangely summery weather. Michelle,
Justine,
Steph,
Veronica, and I enjoyed dinner at
Diane's Place.
I taught a full-day paper thread class on my first day, which then went straight into the conference. I repeated that class after the conference ended to a different group, and both classes were over the max for MCBA and myself. But the students were gracious and made it work in the space we had. I learn so much every time I teach, and was glad to be able to apply the lessons from the first class to the second. I used to teach all of this and more in a tiny amount of time but I'm finally learning that less is more.
Lignin scientist Dr. Ulrike Tschirner gave a fantastic keynote: clear, concise, and fun, which made me wish we had far more interaction on a regular basis between papermakers and scientists who work in the same field.
Then I presented my talk on toolmakers. Immediately before I was introduced, I made the mistake of checking my email and discovering that our friend, colleague, maker, and person extraordinaire
Jim Croft, was nearing the end of his relationship with cancer. I began my presentation by sharing the news to explain why I was starting by crying. He's with his family at home now and it's unbearable to know that we don't get more years with him, but he continues to live in grace as he celebrates every hour of life.
[Lisa above is showing one of the very popular Hand Papermaking portfolios to Lauren & Justine. I love using
this one in my Oberlin class every January; students love it.] Because I was teaching, presenting, volunteering, and vending, I had almost no down time or even a chance to run out for lunch with friends. But they took good care of me and brought me things to eat while selling books. And vending is always a great time to catch up with adjacent colleagues. I was grateful to sell out of the toolmaker
books I had shipped, and to watch the panel of three of my subjects,
Lee McDonald,
David Reina, and
Brian Queen, talk about their work. Hopefully more younger folks will be inspired to follow their trajectories.
After I had fulfilled all of my obligations, I was excited to share dinner with dear longtime friend and ceramic artist
Juliane at
Owamni. She kindly drove us through the madness of Vikings game traffic (since my last visit, the football stadium has since moved very close to MCBA, and what was a quiet neighborhood suddenly became a very bro-y sea of purple) to get my teaching supplies to the hotel and then off to a delicious meal. We walked a bit afterwards and can you believe that I didn't realize until my last day that the river that runs through this town is the Mississippi?! I only thought of it in the middle and southern parts of the country, not way up top. Also, I assumed that all of it was giant. But this is the best way to learn, by being right there and passing by it day after day.
Yes, I returned to Diane's Place on my last morning before leaving town. Steph reported that the chicken noodle soup at breakfast was excellent, Lisa and I each got a bowl before we parted ways, and I saved a pastry for the airport. I hadn't been to a papermaking conference since 2012 so it filled my well to convene with old and new friends, while strange to feel this shift in the demographics: my elders were not there, and there were so many new young faces, which means...are WE the old heads now?! It reminded me of how much work we have to do but also how many willing hands we have. I almost cried when talking the last night to
Cat Liu, when she said that she would not be in the field if not for me. She was not trying to kiss my ass and it was a surprise to hear it from someone I hadn't yet met or worked with, yet immediately resonant. I wish I had had more time to process everything, but had to get ready for the next gig, and the next, right away. More on that soon!
Last month, I returned to Minneapolis for the first time in over a decade to teach, present, volunteer, and vend at the hand papermaking conference hosted by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. I was so happy to reunite with my former students, now friends, over nearly a week in the strangely summery weather. Michelle, Justine, Steph, Veronica, and I enjoyed dinner at Diane's Place.
I taught a full-day paper thread class on my first day, which then went straight into the conference. I repeated that class after the conference ended to a different group, and both classes were over the max for MCBA and myself. But the students were gracious and made it work in the space we had. I learn so much every time I teach, and was glad to be able to apply the lessons from the first class to the second. I used to teach all of this and more in a tiny amount of time but I'm finally learning that less is more.
Lignin scientist Dr. Ulrike Tschirner gave a fantastic keynote: clear, concise, and fun, which made me wish we had far more interaction on a regular basis between papermakers and scientists who work in the same field.
Then I presented my talk on toolmakers. Immediately before I was introduced, I made the mistake of checking my email and discovering that our friend, colleague, maker, and person extraordinaire Jim Croft, was nearing the end of his relationship with cancer. I began my presentation by sharing the news to explain why I was starting by crying. He's with his family at home now and it's unbearable to know that we don't get more years with him, but he continues to live in grace as he celebrates every hour of life.
[Lisa above is showing one of the very popular Hand Papermaking portfolios to Lauren & Justine. I love using this one in my Oberlin class every January; students love it.] Because I was teaching, presenting, volunteering, and vending, I had almost no down time or even a chance to run out for lunch with friends. But they took good care of me and brought me things to eat while selling books. And vending is always a great time to catch up with adjacent colleagues. I was grateful to sell out of the toolmaker books I had shipped, and to watch the panel of three of my subjects, Lee McDonald, David Reina, and Brian Queen, talk about their work. Hopefully more younger folks will be inspired to follow their trajectories.
After I had fulfilled all of my obligations, I was excited to share dinner with dear longtime friend and ceramic artist Juliane at Owamni. She kindly drove us through the madness of Vikings game traffic (since my last visit, the football stadium has since moved very close to MCBA, and what was a quiet neighborhood suddenly became a very bro-y sea of purple) to get my teaching supplies to the hotel and then off to a delicious meal. We walked a bit afterwards and can you believe that I didn't realize until my last day that the river that runs through this town is the Mississippi?! I only thought of it in the middle and southern parts of the country, not way up top. Also, I assumed that all of it was giant. But this is the best way to learn, by being right there and passing by it day after day.
Yes, I returned to Diane's Place on my last morning before leaving town. Steph reported that the chicken noodle soup at breakfast was excellent, Lisa and I each got a bowl before we parted ways, and I saved a pastry for the airport. I hadn't been to a papermaking conference since 2012 so it filled my well to convene with old and new friends, while strange to feel this shift in the demographics: my elders were not there, and there were so many new young faces, which means...are WE the old heads now?! It reminded me of how much work we have to do but also how many willing hands we have. I almost cried when talking the last night to Cat Liu, when she said that she would not be in the field if not for me. She was not trying to kiss my ass and it was a surprise to hear it from someone I hadn't yet met or worked with, yet immediately resonant. I wish I had had more time to process everything, but had to get ready for the next gig, and the next, right away. More on that soon!
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