While I love my work here at the Glass Academy, and I’m driven to make the GA the best it can be, I do have side passion projects that bring me great joy and are absolutely essential to my life.
Some are simple ones like paint by numbers, my newest winter hobby. (Last year it was puzzles!) And others are more soul fulfilling like the work I did last summer on Green Things Farm. I volunteered to work 8-10 hours a week on the farm doing any miscellaneous tasks they needed done. This included planting, weeding, washing, building, harvesting and bringing good cheer (www.greenthingsfarm.com)
Thru this volunteer work I watched a farm progress from May seed plantings to vibrant June growth and then endless harvests until October. The farm yielded a wide range of colors, patterns and leaves/fruits that thrilled me to death along with a bounty of produce to sell. So much color and life on a farm, it was soul fulfilling for me.
I witnessed the bending and unfolding of seeds into sprouts, then into full grown plants that bore fruit. Next came patterns in leaves and vibrancy in colors as tomatoes, lettuce and a whole mix of organic vegetables, even some exotic veggies like ginger, began to grow before my eyes. I think the other farm staff was always amused when I exclaimed “Look at the color on this!" or "Check out that shape!” Comments on color, shape or some other random idea that had no bearing on the taste or quality of the vegetables proved to me that I was truly an artist, and not a farmer like the staff around me.
I fell in love with the beauty of the farm vs. the yield of the farm. I was at times indifferent to the taste or quantity of the harvest, rather, I saw the beauty in the sun rising over the field and the reflection of the dew on the plants. Often times I wanted to grab my camera and immediately take pictures, loosing myself in the moment, but alas, I was working, and my job wasn’t farm photographer!!
Watching plants grow is very similar to how glass moves on a blowpipe in the studio. This past summer watching the farm grow gave me endless insights to products and items I wanted to make for the Glass Academy gallery and indeed I plan to in 2020. See how this all comes full circle?
It’s the passion projects that are essential to the work we do. Allowing ourselves this opportunity to have side jobs, volunteer work, etc., yields results in everything we do and I know I am a much more talented artist because of it.
So on that note, here’s to you ~ May all your Passion Projects be fruitful and giving in every way possible!