Woodcuts Morning, Noon, and Night

The woodcut classes that I have been teaching at the Belmar Arts Council have been relatively successful, with a few repeat customers from series to series, and some of those indicated a desire to repeat it again.  And I had a few requests from potential new students, especially for a daytime class.  So once my college schedule was finally set, I put both a daytime and evening class on the schedule.  Every time I have run one of these BAC classes, the numbers start low, and there is usually some very last minute additions to bring the numbers to a respectable level.  Well, with one day before this double set of classes, despite having several people tell me they were excited to take the class and planning to sign up, I had a total of one registered student (morning session).  Not too promising.  Late Monday I was contacted by a new person who told me she had signed up, but I didn't know which session.

Without knowing anything else, all I could do was show up at the designated times and see who else showed up.  For the first day I always bring a selection of finished prints from my collection- some group folios and some examples of my own work.  Between that and the class supplies, it took five trips from my apartment to my car to get all of it.  However I got to the Boatworks well before the morning class was scheduled to begin and got everything inside.  My first registered student (returning from the summer) arrived a few minutes later.  And then two more followed, one regular, one brand new, each paying on the spot.  Three is a decent number.  As happened with the August sessions, the returning people jumped right in to their latest projects, with me consulting as needed, and I devoted most of the time to working with the new person, showing her prints and going over some basic processes.  The expanded three hour time flew by as usual.

One thing that makes having two sessions the same day more practical is that I could leave those piles of supplies there in between classes.  I didn't know what would be waiting for me in the evening, except that my Monday sign up wasn't there in the morning, so I figured I'd have at least one.  Again I got there early to set up, and my new person showed up on time.  Unfortunately, she was the only one. She has a bit more print experience than most who take this class, and was very interested to see the group folios, not just for the woodcuts but for all the other processes demonstrated.  It turns out that daytime would work better for her, so she'll move to that one (giving me four), and unless there is some sudden demand in the next few days, the evening class will be cancelled this time around.

Next week, the art stays home, and the hard work begins.  I'm ready, and I think they will be, too.