Ceramic Artist gets a happy Boost from MCC Bursary Fund

“So, tell me….  Canada – is that considered part of the United States?”
His curiosity was so keen, his face so full of questions; I could tell he wasn’t joking.
Apart from a lack of geography knowledge, my welcome to Texas was very warm.  There I was, standing in the middle of Houston, Texas, with no clue where I was, still in my winter boots.  A man walked up, looked me over and said in the best southern drawl I had ever heard, “you must be lost, dear.”  Without hesitation, he set me up on a train with a map and foolproof directions to my hotel and began grilling me on the mysterious place called Canada.  Finally with my whereabouts, I was ready to take in NCECA.
For those of you not familiar with NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts), it is a massive conference that brings together ceramic artists from all over North America every year.  From functional to sculptural, beginners to Volkous, this conference has it all.  And thanks to the Manitoba Craft Council’s Bursary Fund, I was able to go and take it all in.  After five days of lectures, demos, exhibitions and meeting “ceramic celebrities”, I left Texas in a haze of inspiration and exhaustion.
Fueled up after seeing what was happing in ceramics all over the continent, I immediately put together my application for Medalta’s Artist in Residence Program when I returned from the conference.  To say I was excited when I got the email saying I had been accepted and would have the opportunity to work alongside my mentors in a state of the art facility would definitely be an understatement.  I will be packing up and heading out to Alberta in October for a seven-month residency at Medalta.  Thanks MCC for the boost.
Jessica Hodgson
www.jessicahodgsonceramics.wordpress.com
This post was an excerpt, in the artist’s own words, from her report to MCC.   The 2013 Bursary Fund is accepting submissions until September 12, 2013.
(click the images below for a larger version)