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It seems a good time to reflect on what’s next for me- lots of ideas and starts, not a lot to show just yet. After way too long a time, I have my big tapestry loom set up and ready to weave. My plan is to work with an abstract image from a collage I did on my residency and I’m excited about the change in scale- finished work should be about 4’ x 3’ which feels like quite a commitment. Also in early stages: a new body of collage works with a working title and prompt of “Refl

I ran out of sky color yarn! And, I know, I planned this, right? I packed lots of greens and blues and browns but... That threw me. I was determined to finish a weaving and start another, but not to be. (And consider reading the book Sky Color: https://www.amazon.com/Sky-Color-Creatrilogy-Peter-Reynolds/dp/0763623458, It’s a good one). So, I shifted and that’s ok but I spent some time reflecting today- if I were to do this again, would I come with a specific project pla

For those of you not old enough to recognize that term it’s from an old TV show: “The character’s knack for improvisation is so well-known that "to MacGyver" has become a verb in the English language, meaning to build or repair something in an improvised way using whatever is conveniently on hand. “. While I planned and packed well for my residency, there has been much to MacGyver. And honestly, that sort of problem solving is something I enjoy. At home I rely on our color

This post is from my artist residency- finally here in New York Mills after a lot of preparation and build up. The train reference is to my first big accomplishment here- sleeping through the night while staying two blocks from a very busy railway line. Since that waited until day three, I was ready! I started this venture with a couple of days in Minneapolis, staying at the home of my long ago college roommate. While there I enjoyed walking Lake of the Isles, a visit to B

Part of my residency includes some sort of community engagement which was left wide open for me to choose. When I notice an upcoming planned event I asked if I could tag onto that: https://kulcher.org/celebrating-cultures-2026/ While I’m not sure how much San Francisco culture I’ll bring to the event (maybe flowers in my hair?), I will talk about my exploration of the culture, flora and fauna of the New York Mills area as well as learning about the Finnish technique of Raanu

Some materials and choices for travel art are easy- one that I found challenging was choosing a “reasonable” amount of yarn to pack- what colors? How much? At home I have a good palette of yarn to choose from but it isn’t really all that easy to bring along, unless I decide to forgo packing clothing… But, I am planning to weave, I do want to work at capturing colors and impressions and hope I’ve made some good choices in imagining what I might need. I began by going throug

I am continuing to think ahead to my opportunity in New York Mills and have been doing a bit of research on the area, it’s history and how those might play into my creating. And meanwhile, I am settling into my new work space here at home and it begins to feel more like me each day. Something that has been helpful was an article by Michelle Shay about setting up a travel art kit. www.shaymichelle.com/how-to-set-up-a-travel-art-kit/ She has a good approach I thought, but th

I’m excited to share that I will be doing a two week residency at the New York Mills, Minnesota Cultural Center in May. Two weeks to further my work, interact with the community and explore the area. I plan to continue working with collage, photography, drawing and weaving while working to capture a new environment and a sense of place. How does one plan for this sort of experience? I’ve been looking at what others have done, guessing my best about colors and amounts of