Haystack Mt.

I just returned from the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Located on Deer Isle off the rocky coast of Maine, it is a place where people go to be fully immersed in a creative never-never land. The wooden planks above meander through mushrooms and moss covered boulders, connecting a network of perfectly rustic studios. Each studio filled with brilliant minds guiding patient hands. If I sound sentimental, its true, I am. I knew returning to reality wouldn't been easy, so on the plane from Boston back to Nashville I wrote myself a mini manifesto... 

Leaving Haystack feeling hungry, inspired, eager to keep this creative flame lit. This life is here for us to live, make, shape, mold into what we desire, what we want to see. People from all over the world were there. Israel, India, Finland, Norway, Japan, Pakistan, New Zealand, Boston, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, L.A., Texas, Tennessee, Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, and Canada. Recent college grads, working professionals, and recently retired. From 19-87 all pushing their own boundaries of what they knew to be true and sacred. As I head back to Tennessee I would like to make a pact with myself that I never settle for anything less than what my dreams cannot describe.

Lets make photographs, prints, paintings, and sculpture. Mold tiles, propose installations, and teach workshops. Bring the smell of the experience with you. The salt, the pines, the spirits. Indigo, cement, porcelain, bamboo, glass, plaster, and paper. The heartbeat of a hummingbird and the buzzing of a bee. Lets seek every flower there is and tell of its wonderful aromas.