Time for tea and serving tea are two different things

Serving tea everyday in my installation is a form of service art. I'm not having tea, I am giving tea, conversation, advice, ideas, and time. Today my guests were the ever so lovely Jenn Figg and Penny Mccall and her husband Wayne Mccall. Jenn is a graduate student at UCSB and Penny and Wayne are 30 year veterans of CAF. It was a perfect tea space.

I asked Wayne and Penny to bring some "show and tell," samples of their creative practice, and they came right on time at 3:00 pm with books and notebooks under their arms. These two, very dedicated supporters of the arts, and artists in their own right were an inspiration. Penny and Wayne were filled with sage advise about making and creating and not taking anything too seriously and the importance of giving back. Wayne is the photographer of an encyclopedic survey of Santa Barbaran architecture and Penny belongs to 3 different art clubs/groups. Penny hooks rugs with a local group called the "Happy Hookers," trades art cards with another group and meets with a women's artist group regularly to share ideas and plan events (this group calls themselves CALL Girls=Crafty Arty League of Ladies). One of the groups sells the arts and crafts that they make in order to raise money for a battered women's shelter. They create and give back and are excellent guests at tea!!

Jenn enjoyed her tea so much she's bringing her philosopher boyfriend back on Saturday to discuss the construction of ideas. Jenn also coordinates family oriented programing for CAF. To serving tea, we give and we get.