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Starting a Guild-
Alaska Polymer Art Guild First Meeting By Karen Ottenbreit With Kellie Prather Robinson |
| I mentioned that Kellie and I were new friends. Indeed we were. The two of us met online through a bulletin board about a year before. Although we both live in Alaska, at the time, we lived several hundred road miles apart. (only a small mountain range, a few glaciers and an ocean inlet as the raven flies.) Down in the Lower Forty-Eight, (that’s how we Alaskans refer to you folks down there...) a few hundred miles is not too big a deal. Just jump on the express way, hit the cruise control and sit back and count the billboards for Howard Johnson’s and Stuckey’s. Up here, that particular stretch of road is a narrow, twisty, hilly, two lane weather eaten black top, fraught with interesting road hazards. (Actually most all of Alaska’s roads can be described that way.) Some of those hazards include avalanche zones, black ice, high wind areas, rock falls, and my personal favorite...very large hairy animals like moose and bears. Long distance traveling in Alaska, via the roads although not extremely dangerous, is not for the feint if heart. |
| Get togethers between us would not be happening very often. Then a wonderful thing happened. My husband and I decided to move to Anchorage Kellie came upon polymer clay as a devotee to the Carol Duvall Show over 6 years ago. Her learning curve was steep and her progress sure but slow. She dabbled, played and experimented. Although she learned a great deal, and had enjoyed many successes, she still felt very frustrated. She felt like she was missing something important. She craved contact with others whom work with PC. It was as if she was circling a treasure chest, knowing it held riches but not having the key. Kellie found her key at the on line forum Polymer Clay Central. The eager and friendly exchange of knowledge and camaraderie enabled Kellie and her work to bloom. She also became a member of the Northwest Polymer Clay Guild, but that was too far away to be able to attend meetings. |
| I came from a very different background.
For several years, I was a professional potter, a self taught potter at
that. When I was forced, due to health reasons, to give up pottery,
I turned to polymer clay. I thought nothing of having to teach myself
a new art form. After all, I had done it before. But I too
craved that connection to others in my field. Living in Alaska, that
connection comes usually only with the high cost of a plane ticket to the
“Lower Forty Eight”. I too, had some experience with guilds... well,
one guild anyway. The small town I was living in as a potter, boasted
a potter’s guild. The guild turned out to be rife with pettiness,
politics and personal agendas. What could have been an amazing resource
turned out to be an extreme disappointment. It left me with a healthy
case of skepticism towards guilds.
My move to the Anchorage area was definitely a welcome one. My newfound friend Kellie was there, as well as a wealth of new opportunities awaited me. Starting a guild and helping form it into what I felt a guild SHOULD be was one of those exciting opportunities. It was also a very daunting prospect. Karen |
Kellie
as we all know and love her. <ducking>