Tonight I went down to the First Friday Gallery Hop. Actually, that’s kind of a lie, because I really just went to glassworks to watch Ken do a demo.

Ken is awesome! He made a giant mint julip, complete with ice cubes and snazzy hot-sculpted mint leaf. It was very cool, and I got to see a lot of the Centre Underground while I was there.

It made me miss glassblowing a lot. I loved glassblowing, yes? All things about it – the art within time constraint, the fire and heat, all that stuff. I think the thing I loved the most about it was its basis in movement.

Contrary to popular belief, I do not believe I am primarily a visual-spatial thinker. I think I’m mostly a kinesthetic thinker. For example, the reason I took copious notes in lectures, never looked at them again, and retained knowledge was because the knowledge was somehow implanted in my brain via the movement of taking notes. Even with painting, I don’t foresee color and composition so much as I feel strokes. It is strange to explain.

There is so much movement involved in glassblowing, and I don’t mean just hoisting the pipe about and constantly turning it and whatnot. I remember when I started to learn how to tell when a piece was on center, or how to tell when the glass was too hot or too cold or juuust where I needed it to be, or when I learned how long to flash a piece. These are all things grounded in subtle movement, and working in such a way is almost intoxicating. It is just so very delightful!

The problem, I guess, is that I never felt the need to produce (except to complete assignments, make presents, and churn out a senior show in somewhat of a panic) so much as the need to just work with glass. This line of thinking is not conducive to being a glassblower, apparently, or so I’d convinced myself. I miss it badly.

And if anyone says “But Lisa, if you are such a kinesthetic thinker, then why don’t you dance,” I will kinesthet them right in the face.