"What I do, I do well.
What I don't do well,
I don't do at all."
- Connie Rose
10/01/2014
What Connie does, she does well; but what Bob Fugett does, he
does right now.
When Clay Boone (master woodcarver) returned from his Wyoming
hunting trip to Sugar Loaf a
couple days ago, one of his early stops was by the Endico watercolor studio
where he heard Connie Rose was no longer working as a production potter for
one of the other Sugar Loaf studios.
Clay said, "No way! Connie is a free agent!? I am grabbing her
and setting her up in the front of my studio. Sugar Loaf needs Connie
... and in the worst way."
So when Connie dropped by the Endico studio to share the great
news, Bob grabbed one of her pieces in progress off her front car seat and dragged her
down to the Boone studio to start figuring things out.
Below is the startup and history of the Connie Rose Sugar
Loaf studio and gallery, courtesy of Bob Fugett who couldn't wait a second to
get her new location online (also courtesy of Clay Boone who knew enough to grab
onto Connie's coattails).
In an unobtrusive corner of the woodcarver's studio
an encroachment appeared which very soon
would
seem as if it had always existed
It was a special one of a kind piece that really needed no explanation
at least for those with an eye for art and a fine sensitivity to life
but a run of the mill gallery would nevertheless explain it saying
in this piece the artist reveals the stark contrasts of an otherwise mundane
subject
the lyrical text proclaiming love is swirled down into the sad depths of change
being ushered between the two spheres of thorns that always bind our lives
you will observe that even love's palaestra is more a sieve than a vault
where it all flushes down and out lost forever being the only life fact
note
the very first letter of love itself comes broken from the start
Of course this fine work by a lifetime artist needs no such glorification
it speaks volumes on its own and the paltry $753 price is a pittance
Thus Bob put together a display sign and posted Connie's hours of
operation.
Knowing how special was the piece he had taken off the
front seat of her car, Bob also threw a price on it which Connie will be
reluctant to sell it for, but that is just the way it is.
Bob's down and dirty, rough and ready, build it from scratch
and let it grow
attitude is what has made Sugar Loaf famous.
The more things change the more they remain the
same.
10/14/2014
Less than two weeks after the first beginnings, Connie is
freshly back from a raku seminar she attended with several of her adoring
fans paying the bill just so they could spend a few days with two masters,
Connie and the potter who held the seminar.
As yet only bisque fired pieces, but certainly fine enough to explain
the facile hand and artistic eye of Connie Rose
The two masters perusing Connie's newest pieces
Clay owns the world of woodcarving
Connie owns most of the rest (obviously)
Saved and repurposed by Connie from the garbage bin of a local filling
station
her new display supports were cleverly placed
behind some sample signs by Clay Boone himself
Taking a board from his back building production stash
Clay tweaked it a little by crashing it through the electric planer
a bunch of times amidst a cacophony of wood chips and shavings
with much cleaning of the exhaust while Bob was commanded
to keep his fingers up his nose and out of the way
buzz zip zoom and there's your display, Connie,
get rich young lady
(and by now you know she did)
Clay was harassed into holding the shelf in place prior to screw down
because Bob really, really, really needed to see a test piece for the record
More pieces in the cue for presentation and explanation
10/15/2014
And on the very next morning, a quiet Wednesday, while the
newest round of wannabe shops are still scratching their heads trying to
figure out why they did not make nearly enough during the weekend's
"Festival," Jessica is busy in her studio teaching, Mary Endico is selling a
painting for enough money to cover Connie's gas money over to Sugar Loaf for
a month, and Clay Boone has already recognized the need for an upgraded
display, so he puts Connie's shelf on it's own brackets and adds corner
shelves; then he clears a space to position the startup table with a few
pieces of Connie Rose's own hand-turned ceramic dinnerware and calls Bob to
come over and have a look.
(hands of Clay Boone and Mary Endico)
Bob was done with his morning routine of closely inspecting web usage logs
so he grabbed Mary Endico saying that Clay only calls if he needs
something
let's take the camera
A corner of the woodcarving studio comes alive with new inventory
from the more and more renowned Connie Rose
Connie better get over here quick
because Clay has already allowed a piece to pick up some dirt
In the meantime, while the rest of the lethargic sleepy eyed world wonders
what is wrong with their communities, one person from a neighboring town tells
Mary Endico, "You know, Warwick has community, but the Sugar Loaf community is
transcendent, a ... an ... über community!"
That is all Bob has been saying ... that and, "If you want to
do well in Sugar Loaf, MAKE SOMETHING of your own and of
yourself!"
The community will help you with the rest.
11/03/2014
Baby Steps
Elle avance à tâtons !
Anything you can do, I can do better
I can do anything better than you!
Most definitely
Connie Rose, Sugar Loaf, NY