We continue to work hard to meet our deadline. Every day begins at 6:30 a.m., with breakfast being served at 8:00 a.m. sharp. After breakfast we work until noon, have lunch and then go back to work until 7:00 p.m., when dinner is served (don’t be late!). Then most of us go back to work after dinner to work until 10:00 p.m. or later (much later no doubt as the opening of the museum comes nearer!). It’s a pretty intense routine, but necessary. Everyone’s work is going well, as we all aim to complete the construction of work within the next week to allow time for drying and firing.
Two of the Canadian artists have been away in Xi’an for two days, one of them to work in a studio that creates replicas of the terra cotta warriors found in the tomb of Emperor Qin (about 50 km from Fuping). Also, while we are here, there are two artists working to make work for the French Ceramic Museum and three days ago, four artists from Mexico arrived. I think they were even more surprised than we were to find the cold, rainy weather we’ve been experiencing. Yesterday Susan and I went to Fuping to purchase winter clothes — down vest and jacket — can you believe it? The rain stopped this afternoon and the weather is supposed to change for the better. That will also be of great benefit for the quick drying of our clay work.
I’ll keep you posted on our progress. I continue to pursue the tree theme I began to investigate at NSCAD last year. I plan to complete at least four trees while I’m here, hoping that at least three of these will survive and be installed permanently in the Canadian Museum at the Fuping Pottery Art Village.
Best,
Grace