Feb.1st: I arrived in Tucson at noon via Alaska Airlines... it was already 64 degrees F. Just the day before in Juneau, the temperature was 3 degrees. In Tucson, the sun was shining and the Saguaro catuses was there to greet me at the airport. I flagged down a shuttle to take me to the InnSuites... today was setup day at the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show.Feb.2nd: The InnSuites is one of four venues of the AZ Mineral & Fossil Show... which is one of the forty shows in Tucson. It was great meeting so many old friends and familier faces and seeing so many new vendors. My friend
Terry Williams was set up at the Ballroom where there was about twenty
vendors. I was set up with the leisure class along side the swimming pool. I was happy to have an umbrella to provide shade from the sun... I didn't need to get any darker. It is so much fun to be in Tucson during the gem shows... there is alot of excitement in the air. The Tucson folks who lived here complained about how cold it was... I smiled and thought... 'those mere mortals would die a frozen death back home in Juneau.' I don't even consider it cold until water is in the solid state... then there are many levels of frozen. Some lady at the InnSuites remarked that the freezing point of water in Tucson was 68 degrees. Driving around Tucson is quite the adventure... Tucson drivers are the worst (fastest) I have ever seen... and I thought the Juneau drivers were bad. My friend John once told me that to Tucsonians... the green light means drive fast, the yellow light means drive even faster... and the red light means proceed with caution. During the gem shows there is pedestrian or bicyclist who is hit & killed everyday. Tucson is really flat and spread out and there are now one million people who live here now... and rush hour to me... is combat driving. To drive well here is to throw caution out the window and drive boldly at ten mph over the speed limit. I started to carve polar bears and sea lions for my demonstration table at the InnSuites. My sculptures were quite small compared to other sculptors who were there at the venue. Each of us were good in the different aspects of sculpture. But my work was quite interesting for people... because I could complete a sculpture while they were watching. During the week the temperatures reached the mid seventies and the sun feels great.
Feb14th: I set in the arena of the Tucson Convention Center... where the 54th annual Tucson Gem & Mineral Society Show is held. There was about 250 vendors at the 'big retail show' or 'TGMS' as other vendors call it... the best of the best are here at this show. This years theme is 'Minerals of the U.S.' I went to bed early in order to be well rested on opening day. It was nice and busy. I sold a few sculptures in the morning and it slowed down a bit, so I walked around to see the vendors. The array of minerals, fossils, and jewelery was quite amazing. It was so hard not to spend money... since I was here to make some. The second day was very busy, all the vendors were to be there at 9am, one hour earlier... because of the Tucson school kids were to visit. There were supposed to be about a thousand of them that morning... but by 11am, it didn't seem too bad to me... but then the main group of the student body arrived in the arena... there was thousands of them and they all watched me carve soapstone. It was alot of fun but they sure took up my personal space. Some kids was an inch from my face. I had to keep an eye out for my tools and sculptures or they would be grabbed and possibly dropped. Overall it was fun. The kids were respectful and asked me some good questions. They all wanted to try carving stone, but I wasn't set up to teach a class of a hundred kids.
My friend Regan whom I had met last year at the TGMS was here again to help me sand my sculptures. Her mother Wendy is here to sell trade magazines here at the shows. Last year I taught Regan and her brother Grayson the basics of soapstone carving. They both carved something small. This year Regan was quite a help on finishing several sculptures. In fact we sold a sculpture that we both worked on... both our signatures was on the bottom of the piece. The hosts from the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society were very helpful to me... they always asked if I needed anything. They were quite happy that I was there at the show. I look forward to doing the show again next year... at the InnSuites and the TGMS at the Tucson Convention Center.
