Life Online

As we now turn toward longer days, I’m reflecting on the past 5 months (since my last post!) and in awe of the ingenuity in this pandemic world! I never thought I would be online, zooming, and learning this much. While I’m not thrilled with our physical separation, I’m sure grateful for the digital community that has kept me company these past nine months.

The beauty of this time, is that we can watch at our leisure, if we missed the live deal. Here’s a list of the artist talks that I’ve participated in this fall:

Artist Interview, Visual Translations at Artistry, Bloomington, MN

Discussion with artist Ann Clarke, Threads Laid Bare, Anderson Gallery, Drake University, Des Moines, IA

Group Exhibition: Where We Are From, Phipps Center For the Arts, Hudson, WI

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered!

So... after 2.5 years, and quite a few logistical challenges, the work for “Visual Translations” at Artistry is complete! This week it will be installed by the Visual Arts Director, and the exhibition opens Friday, August 14.

I’m thrilled to be showing with Nghia Quach, a painter who strives “to touch those who need a voice and reach others who otherwise might not understand.”

I want to see you and talk to you about this work! Artistry is committed to the health and safety of visitors, and will be limiting the number of people in the gallery, and a mask is required. There is no official opening event.

Please consider visiting the gallery during one of these “meet the artist” opportunities:
Friday, August 14, 2:30-4:30pm
Saturday, August 15, 11:00am - 1:00pm (there is a great farmer’s market at the Bloomington Civic Plaza Saturday mornings!)
Monday, September 14, 2:30-4:30pm.

The last day to see the show is September 25, 2020.

Work in process during 'stay at home'

Sounds like a paradox; ‘work in process during stay at home’

Where am I, what am I doing, and how am I doing it?

The first week in March was productive; the quiet and confinement dedicated to stitching and writing. The next weeks were more difficult. I missed my creative place and materials. Weighing risks and benefits carefully, for the past two weeks I’ve ventured to the studio for a few intense days and accomplished enough printing and preparation to work-at-home the rest of each week.

The creative work continues to evolve—in form and content—as I explore the intertextual process of listening, transcribing, and translating the audible into a visual object. The words are hand-written and screen-printed as pages and tapes. The text is de-emphasized, and sometimes obscured, in order to focus the how conversations tie the past to the present, and people to each other.

I'm enjoying the stitching at home, more than at the studio, where I feel like I must move to produce. This is a time for reflection on the many influences on my work; I’m recalling exhibitions visited, reading about writing and expressive text. I’m also doing more of what I want to do, working, having time with family, and being outside every day, and less of what I think I should do.