June Newsletter

NO. 23 | June 2023

Hello friends, and welcome to June!

Today I’m mostly writing about some big & exciting news: I am a Tofte Lake Center 2023 Artist in Residence! I announced this on instagram a couple weeks ago when it became official, but I’m going to do a deeper dive into what this means here.

First, an artist residency program can mean many things. In general, they support artists by providing space, time, or sometimes money for an artist and their projects. Sometimes, the author also gives back to the related community by teaching workshops or classes, giving talks, or putting on a show or presentation at the end of their residency period. They can last a wide range of times, from just a week to even a whole year. Many programs are within the 2-10 week range. These programs are all highly competitive, and artists are chosen through varying application processes.

Since I work a full time job, many programs are not possible for me right now. So, this year, I only applied to two programs, both of which I would be able to attend by taking vacation days. I was rejected from the first and chosen for the second!

The program (located in northern MN, ~10 hours north of Chicago) is 12 days long, and will afford me a private cabin, three communal visual arts and writing spaces, and a stunning lake campus with a sauna, paddle boards & kayaks, wild blueberries, a yoga center, and lots of natural exploration. The lake is stocked with stream trout. There’s a fire pit and a pizza oven. It’s very unlikely I’ll have cell service, and there’s only wifi in one main building. I’ll be attending at the same time as 5 or 6 other artists.

For this program, you had to apply to work on specific projects. My project is three-fold: illustrations for the picture book project that I mention here nearly every month, writing for my novel that is currently at the 50% progress point, and sketchbooking. After the residency, I’ll be making at least one blog post about the whole experience, and I’ll get more in-depth about my goals for these projects then.

This residency is focused purely on the idea of space and time. There are no requirements for the residents, and there is no monetary aspect of the program. I’ll be cooking my own meals while there as well, and bringing everything I need to carry out my work. Space and time is by far what my practice needs most—which you can probably tell if you read a lot of my writing—but this program also has a third element that I couldn’t be more excited about: nature.

I live in the third largest city in the US, which sounds more and more insane to me every time I think of it. Here, there are limited opportunities to connect to nature. But, connecting to nature is part of what grounds me and makes me happy and creative and all kinds of other things. It’s a big reason I feel motivated to move this year.

So, one of the most exciting parts of this residency is to disconnect from the big wide world (and web) and connect everyday with the natural world in a small and beautiful place. Beyond my artistic goals, I am going to be treating myself to nonstop indulgence. I barely feel I need to say it here, but I LOVE to swim. I’ll be swimming everyday. I’m going to lay in my hammock and read. I’m going to catch, clean, and eat fish all by myself. I’m going to look up at the stars before my luxuriously early bedtime. I’m going to sit in front of the wood stove in my cabin, probably wearing fleece pajamas patterned with a mouse eating strawberries that I’m going to sew next month. Sigh.

I love that residency programs let us think of these indulgences as requirements. A lot of the time we make do. We don’t have space, but we squeeze. We don’t have time, but we try. We’re tired, or burnt out, or disconnected from the things that make us happy, and we sit down to make something anyways. But for 12 days, I won’t be settling in those ways. It’ll be all about me and my work and about making myself the version of me that makes the best work. And it’s really the first time in my career as an artist where I’ll have a chance like this.

I’m unbelievably excited, grateful, and delighted, and I can only hope it’ll be a launching pad for the big and wild dreams I keep a little closer to my chest. Hope you’re shooting for something exciting this month.

Consider: The Here & Now and the There & Then

Very sadly, I wrote this blog post & then Substack changed their writing interface and the draft was deleted! It was a personal piece of creative writing that I don’t really feel capable of re-writing in the same way—alas, that’s how things shook out. I promise a blog post next month!

I shared something about both of these projects together back at the start of the year, so here’s a little update! First, I have officially finished the first block of my nova star quilt. I am SO PROUD of this block, and every time I look at it, my heart swells. It took a lot of practice and precision to get here, and it’s so beautiful, colorful, and sharp that I could cry. Let’s do some quick math: this is 1/42 blocks needed to make the entire quilt. All the pieces for each block first need to be cut (est. 20 hours—shoutout to the wonderful Emilio for spending a few hours table-sawing custom cutting templates for me!). It takes me about 2.5 hours to sew each block, though that might get faster as I go? (est. total 105 hours). Before reaching this stage, I spent about 10 hours doing prep work (e.g. choosing colors) and practicing with scrap fabrics. Then, once all the blocks are finished I will have to assemble them with sashing, assemble the quilt back, baste them together, hand quilt them (the current plan 😱), then hand sew an embroidered binding (est. 150 more hours). So, though I don’t know for sure (I’ll be keeping track), I think this quilt might take me at least 285 hours of work. That’s a full time job for seven weeks! I will certainly make a blog post once it’s done, which at this stage, is almost a laughable idea. But, this single glowing finished block is honestly enough motivation to last a lifetime.

Then, the third picture is my granny square vest. I’ve finally reached the final stage: assembly. I’m knitting the hems and the collar, and then you’ll be seeing me wearing it on instagram pretty soon.

This month, I’m spotlighting Kalina Muhova. She’s a Bulgarian illustrator that lives in Italy, who mainly produces comics and book projects (unfortunately not usually in English). I am consistently dazzled by her texture, character, color, and storytelling, and she does so much amazing work that I find inspiring for my own grayscale or limited palette pencil work. She draws with emotion, detail, story, and life.

☆ If you’re interested, I’m making my quilt from a Then Came June Pattern. They have so many lovely designs and great quilting information.
☆ I will be signing my books at the Albert Whitman booth of ALA on 6/25 at 2 PM. Please stop by to see me if you happen to be a children’s librarian who also subscribes to my newsletter!
☆ Really interesting newsletter on making fake art within art. Also something that my book club discussed while reading our last book (Open Water).
☆ Speaking of books, I could say I’m in a bit of a reading rut. Any suggestions for me?
☆ Everything Carson Ellis shares feels quite special, and this is no exception.