Shane Fero Course No. 1

Phhhht! Let me try and blow some dust off this blog! I am currently at the amazing Bildwerk Frauenau summer school - imagine a place where people congregate to learn arts and crafts, and have done for 24 years, where popping into each others' classrooms for a nosy is encouraged, where talks and communal meals are organised, where you might chat with others about anything, shedding light on it from any number of media, where creativity oozes out of every pore, with random glass and clay sculptures dotting the landscape, where you might find a small carving on your wooden seat, or the windows engraved with sketches, or the walls painted with scenes and quotes from the minds of people who attended years ago. If you manage this (and you might well arrive in your head at some sort of 1960s commune - in a good way!), then you have begun to scratch the surface of Bildwerk Frauenau. I have been here for two full days, and I won't pretend that I have done any more than that!

If you now populate your visual image with a group of people spanning about 12 nationalities, and steep it in lovely sunshine, add a dash of 'sitting on the lawn on a balmy evening, discussing the day over a bottle of beer', then you have added a bit more detail.....

....and from me taking the pains to describe this in such detail, you might deduct that I'm rather enjoying this particular environment!!

I'm here to spend 16 days (!!!) with Shane Fero, lampworker extra-ordinaire. And in fact, now that I've given you a taste of what this place is like, I think I might wait until the next post to tell you more about the course itself ;o)