arthappiness

I went to an event tonight at the Hyde Park Art Center called 'Cocktails and Clay.' Basically, it's an art class for grown-ups--you get clay and booze. They have a DJ for dancing (which I studiously avoided), and the galleries are open.

I went, because the price was right, and probably also because I like things that offer booze along with something I enjoy anyway: 'Beer and Bible' study in Jerusalem had a similar draw. Anyway, I walked in the door and was surrounded by hipsters looking, well, hip. And I had basically worn my snowpants for the mile-long trek. Eek.

Still, there was the ceramics studio. I haven't been in one since high school, since I started Wartburg as an art major and the professor at the time said they weren't interested in offering pottery, since I became an adult and the cost of classes soared above any hope of affordability. You could sign up for a 45-minute session to make a slab pot or a coil pot. Unless it was really something beautiful, you had to smash it down at the end.

I ended up making this. It's an Iraqi woman in modern abaya, walking as I remember in the markets. I get to keep it. I got a free drink for having a nice art project. The 'oohs' and 'ahs' were really nice too. One of the girls who teaches there will go to see if I can volunteer as a TA for her, since volunteering enough hours lets you 'work off' some of the class tuition. That would be great. I forgot how much I missed it and how much I remembered. I was so happy to be in that room doing this, that I was almost crying. My artwork often takes last place in a busy life; with the long hours worked in Baghdad, I really hadn't touched it since. But I knew that I needed to do something about it--I'd been almost in tears every time I passed an art exhibition.

I hope the statue makes it. I'm worried I'm so out of practice that my practical technique of hollowing it wasn't good enough. We'll find out in about a week.