You know you’ve got it, and we want you to show it! We need to see it! We want to hear it! And now we’re asking…Please consider applying to be the demonstrating artist for NCECA in Portland in 2017!
As we jump right into planning our 51st conference in Portland, Oregon, the NCECA board is encouraging accomplished ceramic artists to step onto the stage, make that stage their studio, and become the memorable makers of the conference. ALWAYS popular, anticipated with excitement, well-attended if not “packed”, the demonstrations and the demonstrators give our members something memorable, tangible and most of all inspiring to take back to their own studios.
If you have taught ceramics to almost anyone, you know how gratifying it is to be able to open up the world of clay to a student. Think about those first encounters that you have provided for others: eyes widen, an expectant quiet descends, and for a brief period you are a rock star – you demonstrate your way of making. Then come the questions – “How do you…?” and a better one, “Why do you….?”, and you continually enlighten, clarify and unwrap the visual. You have just made possibility for students, and you’ve created an understanding of process and practice. You are TEACHING! And don’t you love how that feels?
Teaching to an audience who knows something of what you are doing as your life’s work, an audience who shares your love of the material, who values the dues you have paid, the kilns you have fired, the pounds – no tons – of clay you have wedged, reclaimed and transformed, would be gratification amplified. It will feel great. You will be able to tell your story, or the parts of it you want your audience to appreciate. You will be able to show some of who you are and why you have made critical life choices. You will be able to touch lives and make a difference – perhaps many times over.
So that is WHY you should apply to be a demonstrator for NCECA, and did we leave out making your work known to educators, curators and others who create workshop, lecture and exhibition programs for their institutions? HOW to apply, including the compensation for being a demonstrating artist, is right here on the NCECA website.
The NCECA board will consider all of the submissions while seeking an overall balance of handbuilding, throwing, sculpture, functional work, male and female artists. It encourages international artists. At the end of the day, NCECA will choose based on the applications received that indicate artistic excellence and any comments that members have made on post-conference surveys.
Are you sold yet? Please give yourself, your career, and your colleagues the spark that you deserve. Click here and send NCECA your application to be a demonstrating artist for NCECA. You’ll be a rock star and the field of ceramics will thank you!
