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The Spirit of Ravensdale
Trina Williams

Tracy and the Hunks		 This year we had about a dozen “Hunks of Clay” as Donna Kato has dubbed the men in polymer clay including instructors Dan Cormier and Jeff Deaver but Stanley Pekarsky had to be the most interesting. As a first timer he even brought his Foredom buffer all the way from Idaho! 
When I contacted Stan by email for some more information he responded “I’m just about recovered from Ravensdale in the physical sense; however, I hope I never get over the exhilaration, inspiration and excitement of the experience.”

Stan and his Foredom		 Stan, like many, came to polymer clay from rubber stamping. He and his partner, Russell White, are Independent Dream Impressions consultants. Stan started “fooling with polymer clay to enhance my paper craft. Although I still do stamping, polymer clay has become my passion.” He learned about Ravensdale while attending ArtFest in Port Townsend, WA the last two years. 
No mention of the spirit of Ravensdale can go without saying LINDA GOFF. Linda, who was the Program chair, passed away shortly before the event. An active teacher and guild member she will be missed. The Ravensdale conference was dedicated to her and a special exhibit of her work was in the Rave.
My own memories of Linda include a class I took from her at my first Ravensdale (‘98) and the conga line “break” we took halfway through the class. Laughing definitely gets your creative juices flowing.  I was also fortunate to receive one of her Sea horse pins through one of the auctions.
Pier Voulkos and Claire Piper evoked the spirit when they tangoed to an admiring crowd in the foyer at lunchtime. Pier announced her retirement from teaching at Ravensdale and one of her necklaces brought in over $700 at the auction.

It would take a whole book to describe the great classes and teachers available. The wavy blade demo with Marie Segal and Jody Bishel was filled before I even got my registration in and they graciously scheduled two more to accommodate everyone who wanted to see it. 

Author's Watercolors		 Among the new classes was one that will surely intrigue everyone. Patti Kimle, of egg fame, trained in watercolor painting, taught us how to apply the technique to clay with Piñata Inks. Look for an article in one of the magazines sometime next year. 
The Ravenstore was huge this year. All kinds of supplies and the wonderful work of many artists were on hand. Because this year everything was on computer the helpers only had to keep things neat and answer questions. Howard Segal of the Clay Factory and Don Geer of Puffinalia ran the show under the able direction of Major Jane, Jane Scheveren the Planning Chair.  I’m sure Howard was happy. I can remember helping in 2000 and trying to write up credit card slips. I think it took him a week after the event to straighten out our “help”. 
Not every group has a stand up comedian. But we in the polymer clay community have a good one. Tracy Holmes is not only a talented artist and instructor but she is a very funny lady. She has been the announcer and emcee at every Ravensdale I have been to (three) and has the credentials to prove it.
Every night there were “announcements” in the community room wherein Tracy would intersperse the factual with the farcical. Who knew the laundry problems could be so funny. She even managed to relate the tale of the vole (shrew) in my hair so that everyone in the room was scratching their head! 
The final event every year is the auction. All of the instructors donate articles to be sold and the proceeds go to defray the cost of the conference. I’m not sure how much money was raised but several items (including Pier’s necklace) went for hundreds of dollars. Tracy was in top form and this year she had a helper, Randy Townsend. Randy is engaged to Karen Mitchell of Mitchell sister’s fame and looks like he will fit right in with the group. 
The last part of the evening was the distribution of the “magic beans”. The story goes that when Linda Goff was deciding to have a go at making a living from her art, her husband bought a 25 pound bag of beans for emergency purposes. They never had to open the beans and Linda’s friends and fellow guild members thought it would be a fitting tribute to make beans out of polymer clay. So throughout the week we all made “beans” out of our scraps and collected them in a big bowl. Then as we left that Saturday night in August we took a little bit of Linda’s spirit with us. 

So if you are longing to get into the spirit of things save June 20-27, 2004 and plan to come to San Diego, CA for the Evolution of Polymer Clay sponsored by the National Polymer Clay Guild. 

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