I’ve addressed the unseen nature of the “curve.”  Now I’ll share about the learning part.  What Jenn did with her content on polymer clay and what Carmen did by offering it in a beautiful book was to get me curious.  Inspired.  Empowered.  The experiments each were important to my learning and each effort had different outcomes.

Now came the days of gathering information.  I talked to friends and found out what they knew about the material.  I started doing searches on the internet and enjoyed discovering tutorials: written and video.  In this process it became clear to me that I lacked the fundamental tools to really take advantage of this particular artistic expression.  I made some financial investments in this discovery processes. And I shared with some of my closest friends that I was exploring something that I’d been mightily poor at all my life.  I was surprised to receive an outpouring of enthusiastic support:  supplies, a special polymer clay baking oven (an early birthday gift) and numerous internet idea sites.

I ordered a hand crank pasta machine.  I learned that this saves the wear and tear on my hands when trying to mix and blend colors.  And! it produces a more even working surface than a rolling pin does.  I got some clay tools. I put in a brand new blade in my exact-o knife.   Some of you reading this who are not inclined toward art exploration may be wondering what this had to do with you?

Learning is learning.  Whether its physics, physical education or polymer clay.   So I’ll summarize a broadly applicable summary in this way:

1)   I declared I wanted to and I started to explore.

2)   I invited friends to explore and experiment with me and share their results (Carmen Torbus, Christine Mason Miller, Liz Kalloch, Christen Olivarez).

2a)   I dared to share with some of my closest friends what I was doing and they surprised me by providing a litany of resources, ideas and physical support.

3)   I experimented.

4)   I informed my experimentation with study (research & subsequent learning).

5)   I supported my learning by acquring the needed tools to manifest the knowledge I had just acquired.

I kept studying, researching and learning while I waited for all the tools to arrive.

Tomorrow I’ll show you what happened once that pasta machine arrived!  And, just to refresh your memory, here’s a picture of the book that kicked all this into gear. THE ARTIST UNIQUE by Carmen Torbus.  My polymer clay section was led by Jenn McGlon.

Whatever one loves in childhood stays in the heart forever.  – Mary Jo Putney

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.  – Doris Lessing -

Learning is always rebellion…Every bit of new truth discovered is revolutionary to what was believed before. – Margaret Lee Runbeck -

That’s the way things come clear.  All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they’ve been all along. _ Madeleine L’Engle

The excitement of learning separates youth from old age.  As long as you’re learning you’re not old. -  Rosalyn W. Yalow -