artfest news...

i'm still coming home, driving home from artfest and i don't have pix uploaded yet, but i thought i would write a small report on my wonderful trip.
first of all i would have written all along, except! i was having fun and my motel on the sound (sea's edge) did not have wifi.
artfest is located at the very top of an island in pudget sound, the town, port townsend, is a victorian port and arts community, the fun all took place at fort worden (as in, richard gere in the movie, officer and gentleman) where most festers stayed in the barracks. my husband and i stayed in that motel at the waters edge. beautiful and calming. except i worried about these hardy seagulls who drop clam shells from a rocket's space (as pictured here) on the pavement to crack them open to eat. i actually never did see this happen, but my husband's cousin, kevin, who lives near here warned us of this, since then i was terrified to walk on the bay.
so the classes all took place in various rooms at the fort. a couple of classes were on the water's edge too. my room was in the building called schoolhouse. fancy that.
i had a full class and eager students. their work was so stunning, i got lots of notice and compliments during "show and tell" the last night of the festival. there were over 550 art students and around 30 teachers.
wednesday afternoon was check in. the participants all received a wonderful tote bag full of goodies, like quality chocolates and tea, a nice thermos and playful things like needle and thread with cloth angel wings and embroidered art pieces. the owl was the theme this year. postcards of the teachers work were also in the tote bag.
there was a gallery of art for sale and a wall of trades of art too. many many handmade journals were there as well as all of teesha's vending stuff. quite an eyefull.
wednesday night we all met in the theater or balloon room (as in large hotair balloon) where the teachers were all introduced and given a random question to answer: mine was "how do you feel about collaborative work?" i was enthused about it but answered that i loved the art communities in paris - later that night i mulled over the relevance of my answer until i couldn't remember it anymore, so then felt calmer as i am sure no one else remembered it either.
thats all for now as i see by my husband's pacing the room, is time to head out from here. we are in redding, CA today. wonder if we can make the drive all the way home....?