Flexibility has to be part of the mental set of people who work in clay. The residencies vary in size. The smallest she attended had four artists, the largest thirty. They include demonstrations and lectures, and the artists are expected to make works for an exhibition at the end of the conference. But their time is largely unstructured.
People walk around and observe others at work.
We see what others are doing, and the format allows us to experiment. Zirbes' own work method is unusual, and observers don't know where she is heading until the last week or so of the residency when her pieces come together. I think a lot about what I'm going to do, with a general idea of the final piece. But my process is to make a lot of parts, fragments. She uses a variety of hand and throwing techniques.