Duuuuuude...the colors...

Back in February, I gave AdVerb a special present for his birthday: a gift certificate to take a class at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  We know lots of people who have either attended or taught at John C. Campbell and loved the experience, and I thought this would be a great chance for AdVerb to have some uninterrupted time to make some art and learn something new.  The certificate left the choice of class up to him, so he could take whatever he wanted.

Around the same time, a friend mentioned that she had visited a really cool kaleidoscope shop in the Northlake area.  AdVerb and I popped in there one day and were amazed at the variety and artistry of the "scopes" we saw.  Well, lo and behold, the Folk School catalog listed a weekend kaleidoscope class as one of their offerings for fall, so AdVerb decided that's what he would take.

So, he went up there for the class last weekend, and here are the results of his efforts.  Pretty awesome, huh?  He made two scopes (check me out, using the lingo!) during his two-day class.  The process involved cutting brass tubes, cutting glass and mirrors, and using faceted beads and shards of colored glass for the designs.  AdVerb had a great time creating these and is rightly very proud of his work.  He also raved about the Folk School and how peaceful and scenic it was up there.  We'd like to find a weekend next year when there are classes we'd each like to take, and make a little getaway of it.  That would be really fun.

The thing is, creativity is a key component of our individual lives and also of the life we have together as a couple.  Making things is as natural to us as eating.  But AdVerb told me a story that reminded me this isn't the case for everyone.  Apparently one of his fellow students in the kaleidoscope class was a woman with a very stressful job who had been sent to the school by a relative who thought she could benefit from learning a relaxing hobby.  This woman had never created anything in her life.  When she finished her scope, AdVerb reports, she actually wept.  She couldn't believe she'd made something, and something so beautiful at that.  She'd had a breakthrough, an epiphany.  Now, who knows how this revelation will carry over into her everyday life, if at all.  But for at least a moment, she glimpsed a new possibility, a different perspective on life.  This story made me very grateful that AdVerb and I (and so many of our incredibly talented friends) have such ready access to those mysterious, playful, exciting parts of our brains.  For so many people, those qualities are walled off or otherwise repressed.  But they're there...oh yes, they're there.

Comments

[Greta]

Stacy,

Just to let you know, I find you very empowering on the teaching people to be creative front.

Samira

[Christy]

Those pictures came out Fantastic! Crazy good. THey really show off the excellent work Adverb did!!

[Adverb]

I just put the digital camera on "close-up" setting and then put the lens directly over the eyepiece. I cropped those images with photoshop.

[Slick]

How do you take pics of inside the 'scope?

Tell A that I said they rawk :)