Going to workshops....

Just as many professionals in the financial or business world constantly keep up with new trends and ideas by attending seminars, classes and workshops, so do most creative types. Our workshops just tend to have a different focus and are more about process than outcome or desired results. Not that artists of all sorts aren't interested in results but for most, the journey is more fun and interesting than the destination and seeing how other artists work is always interesting.

I have belonged to a local pottery co-op since 1980 and every year the group hosts workshops by well know n artists and potters from off Cape as well as some of our own members. This past weekend, Cape potter Steve Kemp and his potting son, Matt Kemp, hosted our group for a two day demonstration and workshop.

If you know me you know I am not a potter. I did make and paint tiles for over 30 years which put me in the clay category but I do not throw pots, construct pots or do anything with pots except cook in them. Over the years I've attended countless pottery workshops. Yesterday a friend asked why I go. It is pretty simple. I go because I always learn something.

Listening to another artist describe and analyze their own process is always interesting for me and often illuminating. I have found over the years that I can learn as much from a weaver or a potter or a basket maker as I can from another painter. It is the process, the approach, the thought process that matters to me and I always walk away with at least a little nugget of new and thought provoking information.

Do you attend workshops? Why or why don't you go?