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Warwick, NY, August 15-16-17 2008
Encounters with Natural Materials...with time included for accidents, surprises, omissions and discoveries
Who's Coming to the New York '08 Gathering
Many of the events of the Gatherings are related to the book Dan is working on, The Wayward Artist, where he describes four
"needs" we all have as people in need of creative fitness:
1. The need for contact with The Organic: Workshops and Visits to local spots
2. The need for experiences of Awe and Wonder. Again, Workshops and Visits to local spots
3. The need for Stories: telling and learning. This is the backdrop to the whole event
4. The need for Dexterity:learning to do new things, be new ways: Again, Workshops and Visits to local spots
A feature of the Warwick Gathering is that Dan's studio will be open and set-up for exploring and work throughout the event,
sort of a Buffet of Self-Guided Workshops based on Dan's new book, The Wayward Artist. YOU can decide what, when and how
long to stay with a certain new area of Woodlandering. This is for the Butterflies among us who want to sample and light
on as many different areas as possible. It's a learning style that many of us share.
Start in any of several places or several at once: Go over this list and mark what catches your interest. There are
literally hundreds of combinations of each of the following ways to work. Combine one or more together and see what happens.
Exploring MATERIALS: Big Dry Sticks, Medium Dry Sticks, Small Dry Sticks, Green Wood, Driftwood, Barks, Stone, feathers,
bones, metals (iron, copper, lead), leather, fur, corn silk, shells
Getting acquainted with different TOOLS: there’s a shop full of old and new tools: Chain saws, carvers, shapers,
grinders; What grammar do each of these tools give you? each alone? and then in sequence with each other?
Working SLOWLY: what's a project that might take weeks? Or years. Look at some of Dorothy Gill Barnes's long-term projects.
Working CASUALLY
Go HUNTING in the creek beds, the uplands and forests around here for an hour or so
Be alert to ANIMALS
Exploring LAND ARRANGEMENTS: make some pattern on the land with stone, earth, water; though trimming, pruning. Look at
Crop Circles and the book on Land Art. The Medicine Wheel is related to this. So is gardening and particularly memorial gardens.
Go to the Warwick cemetery an see what's there.
Work with TEXTURES, SMELLS, SOUNDS; Explore different SHAPES: spirals, circles, squares
Start with SOMETHING OLD: Indian finds, fossils, stone, antiques, shards
Start with the BROKEN/FIX SOMETHING
Explore ALCHEMY: the operations of burning, reducing, fusing, The metals, the equipment, the sayings
Start with a container: a BOX or a VESSEL
Something to finish in TEN MINUTES
Something that takes a DAY TO FINISH
Trying different TECHNIQUES:
JOINERY Hot glues, Mortise/Tenon, Knotting, Lashing/Tying, Hot Wax, Woven
SUBTRACTION: carving, lathe work, chainsaw work
Trying different FINISHING TECHNIQUES: burnishing, glazing, charring
Working within certain SIZES: Smalls, Big Logs and Branches
Making FUNCTIONAL things
INTERIOR: Chairs, Tables, Fencing, Shelves, Beds,
GARDEN ITEMS: Trellises, Benches Stools. Accessories
Making IMAGINAL things: wands, fetishes, totems,
Make GIFTS
Make PERSONAL EXPRESSIONS; Work with WHAT POSSESSES YOU: your weaknesses, addictions,
Fine OTHER WAYS to make order, pattern, statement:
HAIKU, IKEBANA, KUBA CLOTH, ESKIMO ART: transformation objects, BAULE ART: to glimpse, WABI SABI
Go VISITING/WANDERING/HUNTING
COST
The 2008 registration cost is $250 for the three days or $125 for any single day. 50% deposit is due now and the rest, with
camping fee, when you arrive.
Checks to "Woodlanders" 14 Welling Avenue Warwick, NY 10990
or PayPal to "rustic@warwick.net"
Camping costs
For $25 to $32/per site/per night, there is on-site camping with electricity and a bath house with hot showers. There
are only 20 sites available. The $25 sites are flat areas with electricity and water; the $32/night sites are tents on platforms
each with four cots. As camping goes, this is pretty good.
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