October Studio Recap
November Exhibitions, A Rug Skateboard, My First Grant, & More!
Hello friends! I hope October has been so kind to you! It’s one of my favorite months due almost entirely to seeing the ingenuity of costumes on display during Halloween. I love when people put time and effort into silly projects just because it’s fun! If you had a really good one please share I’d love to see 🎃
Aside from enjoying the holiday festivities, I’ve been working away in the studio as usual. This month brought some exciting opportunities that I’m v excited to share with ya’ll—Let’s dive in!
November Exhibit @ Mainframe
I have some work up in the first floor atrium at Mainframe as part of their November featured artists exhibit. Come check it out if you’re in the area! I’ll be around during First Friday (Tonight!), and Small Business Saturday (Nov 30th from 12-4 PM) if you want to say hi! I haven’t really ever exhibited my work outside of my studio, so it feels fun and special to see it up on the big wall next to some very talented artists <3
Rug Skateboard
I also had the opportunity this month to make a piece for a group show that will be up at Firetrucker Brewery in November! Each artist was given a blank skateboard deck to create a piece with, and I decided to make a rug skateboard—maybe the first ever??
Iowa Artist Career Accelerator Grant
Very honored and excited to share that I was awarded a grant by the Iowa Arts Council through their Artist Career Accelerator program! The funding will help support some new personal projects over the next eight months. Hope ya’ll are ready to see some new rugs this year >:-)
SQUEEZE! Sculpture Series Update
I didn’t make as much progress on these sculptures as I had hoped this month (I talked about this project a bit more last month, if you missed it), but I did finish assembling the first piece!
Very excited with how this one turned out 😎 The process worked better than I had imagined in some ways, and was more difficult than expected in others lol. But I now feel much better going into the next two! More to come soon…
5 Things I Loved This Month
1. Watching: Perfect Days
A beautiful film about the simple life of a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo, which made me feel so happy and grateful :’) Definitely recommend if you like feeling either of those things!
2. Shopping: New Guitar !
I don’t think I’ve talked about this on here before, but I play guitar a bit in my free time. I started learning when I was younger, and after a long hiatus while I was in school I took it back up a couple of years ago, and have even been taking lessons! It’s such a fun hobby, and a great way to get my mind out of the visual arts world. I’ve been looking for a nicer acoustic guitar, and finally found a great deal this month via FB Marketplace >:-) It’s the most beautiful instrument I’ve ever owned I’m obsessed!
3. Listening: Magpie by Peach Pit
Another incredible Peach Pit album!!! They just don’t miss
4. Eating: Mango Treats
I made TWO different mango desserts this month. Loving this fruit!
5. Reading: The Van Gogh Blues by Eric Maisel
This book? Kind of changed my life? Maisel’s core concept is that the reason artists are so famously prone to depressive episodes is that they’re very likely to experience ‘meaning crises’, in which their life, work, or both, lose a sense of meaning. He outlines different ways this can look, and strategies we can use to force our life to feel meaningful, despite the difficulties of the world around us. I found it to be a huge perspective shift on the way I view my own mental health, and would very much recommend it for any fellow artists out there that also struggle from time to time!
Monthly Inspiration Dump
That’s it that’s all! Not to be annoying but I can’t believe it’s November. The end of the year is almost upon us and it’s freaking me out! Okay bye TTYL!
