ecu symposium 2020

I attended the ECU Symposium last weekend as a presenter and guest lecturer. I had a great time! I taught two demos on CNC machining and gave a lecture on my work. It was an emotional experience to say the least. My friend Adream was on my mind most of the talk which probably did not serve me well when speaking, but I received many complimentary comments afterwards.

It was really awesome to meet several people that I have followed or been aware of for quite some time. Jeremy Waak is one person that I have always looked to since we seems to be into similar things and draw inspiration from similar places. Christopher Darway is another such person. I didn't even realize what an influence he had, as I had postcards of his work on my studio wall when I was a grad student. It was so great to be able and meet these two guys. 

I also met Michael Nashef. I have been following him as he was in undergrad and graduate school as he has been a metalsmith to watch out for. He gave a superb demo and I was really impressed by his teaching ability and infectious enthusiasm. He is going to continue to be someone to watch in the field of metalsmithing. 

I was able to also spend some time with Cappy Counard and Sue Amendolara who I really enjoyed talking with and realized that I wished that I had met them both earlier in my career. They are both very accomplished Metalsmiths. 

I also got to talk to Nick Dong, Pat Nelson, Anne Havel, Harlan Butt, Ken Bova, Alison Pack, Nash Quinn, Peter Antor, Mi-Sook Hur, Tim Lazure, Sharon Massey, Shingo Furukawa, and Heidi Lowe, just to name a few. Honestly there were too many people that I was excited to talk with and discuss metalsmithing and teaching with, to even mention here. I even had some students from other Universities approach me that are students of some of my former students, who are now teaching; that'll make you feel old! I believe my three students that attended also enjoyed the experience. I left the symposium exhausted and recharged at the same time. I'll have to make sure and keep this event on my list of things to attend each year.