I have friends who just shake their heads when I rave about my week at what I refer to as Adult Summer Camp, but what is in reality Guild School. We live in the dormitories on the campus of the Maine Maritime Academy, so its really not camping, but its the quickest way of describing to the uninitiated what the whole experience is like. And, unlike some of those more youthful campers, we adults really appreciate the experience!
There are several components that make the week at Guild School so much fun, not least of which is being around 200 or so other kindred souls who love miniatures as much as you do, the main attraction though, is the classes. Amazingly talented artisan and fellow members of the Guild from around the world come to Guild School each
year to pass on their knowledge, and the lucky people who are able to attend readily soak it in.
I know some artists who aren’t interested in classes fearing that students sit there slavishly copying the same piece the instructor has already created. For some people, that is enough and if that is all you are interested in doing, then you will come home with a lovely piece, but the driving force behind many others’ attendance is the chance to learn and practice new skills.
One of the teachers at school this year was Nell Corkin who’s speciality is 1/144 scale structures. While teaching her class to make a small garden shed in a landscaped setting, she passed on her techniques for adapting found materials to convincingly replicate full size buildings in that incredibly tiny scale. Elizabeth Yankowski was one of the students in that class. She did a bang up job on her 1/144 scale garden shed, and this fall, she put her new found skills to work to make a second 1/144 scale structure. Check out the sweet little cottage, complete with furniture, also in a wonderful landscaped setting!