The Other Part of the Equasion

Preparing the application is just one part of the process. Finding a suitable mentor is the other. In principle, the CARFAC Mentorship Program will match you with a mentor. The truth is that a good mentor is critical to the success of the pairing, so best to seek out and submit applications together.

The Cultural Careers Council Ontario, Get Mentored!, suggests starting a list of candidates of people who have succeed in achieving the goals you have set for yourself; the candidates success usually being an expression of:

• technical competence
  
• professional status and prestige
• knowledge of their industry, discipline and/or organization
  
• an ability to work closely with others.

So I looked at what I needed to learn. In order to integrate glass into my ceramic sculptures it is necessary for me to obtain technical knowledge of glass; gain an understanding of the technical aspects of combining glass with ceramic and develop design skills for integration of non-ceramic objects into my sculptures. I was looking for a glass artist who

• exhibited high degree of technical competence in glass
  
• is well versed in various forms of working with glass (cold, warm and hot)
• has worked in clay
• shown an ability to work closely with others

After speaking with some friends who work in glass about what I proposing to do and who I was considering, they strongly recommended that I contact Lee Brady. I've known Lee for years and he previously had had me out to his studio to talk about glass. I love and respect his work. Would he consider mentoring me? I just had to make the call.

Left: Nestweavers by Lee Brady

The call was easy. He was interested and willing to submit a joint application. So we were in the horse race!