by TASI Executive Director, Greg Busceme, Sr.
Coming into a new year, I always get nostalgic about where we started some 40 plus years ago, and where we are going. When we started, we had an 8,000 ft2 facility that could accommodate three studios, some open space to teach classes, and a ceramic studio with kilns and a hefty clay supply. We started production with the addition of a powerful clay mixer which we still have today, albeit with a more powerful motor installed earlier this year. We mixed and bagged prepared clay which we sold to the schools locally, giving us much needed funds to run the studio. In those days we did not have copiers or computers or any way to make mailing labels, so we got a crew of people with good handwriting, took a page from the mailing list, and begin writing addresses. Each person would do about 30-50 addresses and we would reward them with a beer and our deep gratitude.
We always lived with the possibility of being evicted because we were often several months behind on rent. The building was so bad that after we moved out it was eventually turned into a parking lot.
In that location we had the distinct honor in our earlier years of having the Artists Emeriti of our time: Maudee Carron, Lynne Sweat, Keith Carter, Linnis Blanton, Doris LeJune, Meredith Jack, Phil Fitzpatrick, Steven Crane to name a few! Their affirmation of TASI gave us the credentials we needed to represent the artists of this community in a real and professional way.
Jump to today and we are still graced with up-and-coming artists or the well-established mentors of our community. As with the other visual art organizations who are dedicated to the proliferation of art in our community and the exhibition of those artists who challenge the norms or honor the styles and techniques of the past.
It is our distinct honor to serve the public and the arts community as a whole and we are humbled by the outpouring of love and support that this region has bestowed on TASI.
