Catherine Witherell - Wonderful Visionary

Another person I hope to meet in person at Artfest this year is Catherine Witherell - she works in metal clays (copper, bronze and silver) and makes the most gorgeous things. We've communicated online, but I've never actually met her, and I can't wait.

I had the good fortune to interview her also for the Art Bead Scene, and participated (in a small way, a couple of pages) in her Jewelry ZINE project this year. She's put a lot of work into it and it's a beauty, I got my copy and still haven't read it from cover to cover.

She's teaching two classes at Artfest, I didn't take one with her this year but I am anxious to see what comes through the students from her class. On Thursday she's teaching PMC Frameworks, the examples on the Artfest site are beautiful!

The other class she's teaching on Friday is PMC Collage, with lovely units assembled into a storytelling whole. She's got the most incredible way with patinas, getting all sorts of gorgeous color in her metalwork. Just breathtaking!


On her blog she talks about preparing for the class, I know it's a tremendous amount of work. Look at all the stuff in that box! Just gathering the materials to attend my classes has been a bit of a project for me and it's ongoing still, I can imagine preparing all the things needed to teach a roomful of people would be multipliers of that many times over!


I started packing a suitcase this morning with clothes, lots of layers. I think I'll tuck my rain poncho in there just in case, instead of an umbrella, and rain-proof comfortable shoes. My suitcase is a roller bag so I can drag it around behind me once I get on the ground, I've heard that's a good plan.