Namaste…greetings from Nepal…Option B
Each time I head over here, have a rough intention of what I hope to do/ teach/ achieve but am very aware that I have very little control of how things actually pan out. See Option A! As well as the saying about why you have Plan A, one of our frequent sayings in Nepal is Hold things lightly!
There’ll possibly be supply issues, festivals, illness, vertigo, unexpected orders, visitors, holidays…all sorts of things which require flexibility, adaptability and equanimity and the aforementioned capacity to hold it lightly and see the big picture.
I don’t have rigid goals but I do go armed with general intentions. I wanted to keep up with working on new designs, teach and consolidate learning about colour theory, continue to improve studio organisation, clarify roles and develop some job descriptions and continue to increase independence in non-polymer tasks. That’s all. HA HA HA!!!
For a while now, the goal has been to assist the polymer artists from Samunnat Nepal to become increasingly independent in areas of design. Not all of the women have had the opportunity for much education, and even those who have, have had very little exposure to ANY kind of teaching about art or design. Art, if taught at all in schools, is colouring in or copying and only happens at the lower class levels. The language around colour and design is limited and there are the cultural issues to take into account too. Artisans are revered for faithfully and skilfully duplicating traditional designs rather than innovation. I wrote a little about this here.
I have mentioned before about the (WONDERFUL!!!) Zoom sessions with Kathleen Dustin and Christine Dumont where we are learning and applying the theory and practice of design elements and principals. We also have continuing education about colour theory and in this photo, I’m talking about that using fabulous resources developed by Tracy Holmes in her Breakthrough Colour program. These have been quite revolutionary! I am so grateful to Tracy for allowing and encouraging me to use them in this way!
It’s not all learning and work. A highlight of this visit for all of us was when the travellers from the fabulous WEW trip came for a polymer lesson. We did loads of preparation and there were many rehearsals and lots of planning and I was so so proud of the women. And, what’s more important, is that they were so proud of themselves!
They guided a group of women, most of whom had never touched polymer clay before, in making a themselves a wonderful pair of earrings. Everybody loved the class and the joyful, dance filled picnic we all had together the next day! We’ll be doing a lesson again for travellers on the trip I am leading in November. This one is fully booked but we are taking expressions of interest for 2025.
Another thing that bought me great joy was when the women witnessed several enthusiastic shoppers wanting to buy one necklace! This necklace was special and there was only one sample! This was one of three necklaces totally designed by the women and based on their own inspiration. A humble (but fabulous!) red bean. I am still in disbelief that the name of this bean appears to be, simply, ….bean! Surely it should be Nepali version of Ruby Treasure or Blood Lust Bean or SOMETHING a bit more exotic that…bean. Even Lazy Housewife is at least more interesting! If dreadfully sexist.
It was a really interesting teaching moment, because one version we could have sold several times. The two remaining didn’t evoke any interest and there was a really interesting discussion when the travellers left as to why that may have been. It also led to the women re-designing the remaining necklaces with a GORGEOUS result which was snapped up in seconds by an enthusiastic local buyer. Me!