I am typically a fairly neat and organized person but in the studio you will find another side of me.  Yes, everything technically has its place – a box with its name proudly displayed alongside its cabinet number. However, it does not spend its entire life in that location: there are places to go, rocks to meet, and auditions to attend!

When you are auditioning for a job do you hide in your home cabinet in a box? No! You go out in the world flaunting your talents. When this world consists of a studio design table crowded with other contenders you need to make a big splash.  You look for fellow rocks who might complement your color or make your crystals pop.  Like any audition there is a lot of waiting around while the casting director tries to make a decision.  She is wondering about your credentials: in what quantity are you available? Are you just a one-piece wonder or do you have comrades-in-arms? You might look stunning next to that tangerine quartz crystal but if there is not enough of those crystals to fit the director’s vision, you won’t get the part.  She will be considering another crystal group.  The competition is fierce and you may stand on the side lines waiting for a callback for days, if not weeks, or until you get “rediscovered” in an entirely different incarnation.  So is life in the arts…

I used to feel extremely guilty about the incessant messes these auditions caused with materials piled high and strewn from one end of a design table to the other. In one corner is an amethyst sphere in an amazonite circle looking for rocks in supporting roles. Will it be the stichtite, charoite, or orange alabaster? Pushed aside in another corner are a series of onyx, jasper and marble waves and discs that failed to gel – their chemistry just wasn’t right… Front and center is the most likely prospect: a piece of amazonite that stole the show. The supporting cast is vibrant: rhodonites and marbles in contrasting hues, but the casting director is working on balancing their voices.  The baritone amazonite otherwise could be in danger of drowning them out.

Stu and I were very fortunate to make another trek to Utah this spring and be part of a GSA field trip to the southeastern part of the state.  Led by Grant Willis and Keilee Higgs of the Utah Geological Survey, we toured parts of Capitol Reef National Park, Bears Ears National Monument, Natural Bridges National Monument, Gooseneck State Park, and Canyonlands National Park.  There were spectacular geologic terrains, interesting Ancestral Puebloan sites as well as stories about the Mormon settlers from the 1880s. What an arresting landscape!

Next month we will be in Houston at the SEG/AAPG-IMAGE convention. Over 35 artworks will be featured.  Please join us!