Sunday 12/27/20
On Sundays I reflect.
I drank a beer this week, if you can call it that. My good friend sent me a fresh batch of slushy beers from 450 North Brewery in Indiana. After a very long and challenging week, on Christmas Eve I had the Marshmellow Banana Strawberry Blueberry beer. It was fine for what it is, but I still prefer beer that tastes like beer. I also have no inclination to drink again any time soon.
My car needs to go back to the shop tomorrow for another undiagnosed problem. Knowing this will inevitably be expensive has been an underlying source of stress this week.
I feel like I haven’t written one of these in a while. I have been heavily distracted with work, in combination with getting my personal time in on my snowboard in the mornings. We need more snow, but it has been great to get on the hill regardless. I finally got new snowboard boots I will try out this week but after years of living out here I almost have a full set up of gear that actually fits me and because of that my riding has definitely improved.
I have been blowing glass a bit this week and had a frustrating morning when three of the five cups I made the night before were flawed. One had a crack in it, which I hurled across the room at the concrete floor and shattered into many pieces. I immediately cleaned up my mess, which will become part of the next “Trashterpiece” which will have a different title than the original piece. So far my only two resin castings in existence are in the private collections of two very special people; the person with the largest collection of my cups and my brother.
This week we began preparing for the next resin casting. A collector went to Michael’s art supply store in Denver to obtain five gallons of resin for us during a large sale, after earlier in the week he picked up glass from our supplier as well as paint for an upcoming mural and drove the supplies up to us in the mountains. We are extremely grateful for the support from our community that keeps this train moving.
Marta has been sorting trash again with me, this time we have taken some contributions from Everdream Studios and Piece Art Gallery to add into the trash produced in my studio. We have begun conceptualizing what the next piece will look like as well as a strategy for how to approach the next process. The next step will be to build a box which will be mounted behind a frame we have prepared to contain the trash and resin. Once assembled we will begin to lay out our next pattern and ultimately pour the resin and let it dry. I am discussing the piece with a few interested clients, and have yet to determine if it will be a wall hanging piece or a table.
My client who purchased the original Trashterpiece has expressed his desire to own another which he plans to obtain in 2021. For that piece I have reached out to a few of my favorite painters about mixed media collaboration which I hope to bring to fruition. I have also begun reaching out to other glass artists about recycling their waste into future projects and it feels like this project is gaining momentum fast. I think I have come up with a concept that will allow me to put my clear glass trash to use, of which I have much more than the colored trash.
On the note of painters, my friend Julia will be working on a new mural at the studio in the beginning of January that we have been discussing over the last few weeks. I am also talking with JCOST about planning a trip back from Alaska to paint and collaborate on some other projects. I keep up with JCOST as much as we can, but I miss having him around the studio. He has been working on a series for me since he left which I look forward to sharing with you one day in the form of a book of illustrations titled “It’s All About The Benjamins”.
We have also begun planning the Vail Cup Collectors Club for 2021 which will be an online release rather than an in person event due to what we perceive to be the safest option for this upcoming year. Our lineup is confirmed, and we will be confirming a date for sometime in the second half of February soon. We will be offering VIP tickets for some kind of private zoom room presale, followed by a live stream on our social media channels which will be open to everyone. Hopefully next year we can resume this experience at the studio for artists and collectors to come together in the mountains.
I reached out to a lot of old friends this weekend. It was nice. I didn’t get through the whole list of everyone I meant to.
I don’t have much of a CUPDATE for you today, but I am working on Ben’s Backdoor Bodega which will be a weekly offering of around 4 cups that I will discount and share the stories behind here on the site. As always I am extremely grateful for your support which was especially huge this holiday season. On behalf of my team and I, Thank you!
Enjoy your Sunday,
BB
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