an imageteller captures image celebrations.
sharing image tales broadens an artistic expression.
doing so, brings this particular creative indescribable joy.
what is your image story? perhaps I can help you tell it!
Pandemic Image Essay 2020
Each year end I review my image library for themes. I do this as a way to separate certain images for future use. To submit into an art call, to tour, or to write about in a blog post. When last year shifted to things pandemic I didn't set out to narrate it. I simply went about my day to day. I went internal. I stayed home. Within that ....there is a narrative of sorts.
I curated over 200 images and hope to make sense of the them and the story they tell by authoring this blog post.
When grocery shelves became empty.
When the lobby gathering space in my building was was put away.
When I began to perfect the 2 week grocery shop.
When plastic replaced paper bags.
When the beauty I could find at home included my bed unmade or not.
When I made do with a scarf for a mask because I was having a reaction to the elastic versions. the scarf was not a particularly sustainable solution. I looked like an insect or something
When I was gifted a proper mask with ties vs elastic, and mask selfies became a thing.
When spring happened
When streets were eerily empty
When moments outside were beautiful
When dirty cutlery became an artist statement
When Amber posed for me
When food was cause for an image taking pause....or image taking entertainment
When doing laundry seemed to be an accomplishment
When simple object/s in my home caught my photographers eye
When out in the community I saw a statue wearing a mask
When making art, stitched collage art. specifically a crazy quilt style but with paper, consumed much of my time. I made over 40 bird collages this fall.
When Amber tried to help me sew and made me really laugh
When a ponytail became the covid hairstyle.
When baking from a box was a form of entertainment.
When my view from my window gifted me a dose of nature or a cat or beauty
when my glass things emphasized the light or view
When payment with my food stamp card was now allowed for grocery pick up.
When the sun was bright and the shadows took my breath away
When it rained or the wind was epic
When dishes broke
When goals were set and reached, and the reward was cake. really good cake!
When our air quality got scary because of smoke from neighboring state fires
When gifts were given.
When getting new glasses or replacing an 11 year old lap top wasn't simple. at all.
When I decided on what to send as my holiday greeting.
When the holidays happened. or tried to happen.
When it snowed beautifully on the first day of winter like it is suppose to.
When all my toe socks are in the laundry but you still find dork status
when reaching is with claws out
When I left my apartment and found the shadow of myself.
When patterns formed. Post office, groceries, pharmacy ...repeat.
Finally a few random captures. my door - decorated for fall, new glasses, a heat pad thing, amber in black and white, grateful for social distancing, footwear bling
The End.
this blog post would only allow so much photography. The full portfolio of images can be found HERE
Vibrational Collage
I co-taught a year long course in 2020 with one of my very favorite humans and Tarot card reader Sara Galactica.
The course Vision 2020 combined our two passions. Tarot and collage.
This post highlights a year of my personal collage work in relationship to this course.
At our first gathering in January we collaged journals to prepare for our work together for the upcoming year. We met in person one more time before things pandemic forced us to gather virtually.
Below is an inside cover I made for a journal. journal making with collage was new to me. I ended up making a few and used them for my personal 2020 ponderings.
I have been collaging since the late 90's. I began teaching the creative subconscious collage process to others. Mostly in workshops. I casually journaled with collage in 2013, and then collaged daily in 2017/18. The reveal in those two years were an intimate narrative of some rather challenging times.
I relocated in 2015 to the PNW. I arrived wearing the "I am an artist" hat. Sara at the time had a wonderfully curated boutique. She was the first to host my art.
Meeting Sara was the beginning of a mutually admiring relationship.
My collage work since has taken on many forms. Forms that as an artist I feel especially proud of.
Below is one example. - a crazy quilt style 12 x 12 piece made with paper. It took me a year to perfect this format. Much of my 2020 art work is like this.
In observing and experiencing the collage work of 2020, especially in relationship to our teachings. These makings were different. These collages had a vibration to them.
These collages had a specific energy. a vibe. The work also had a telling. a significant meaning for the moment, or a meaning in the making. they provided a visual value parallel to the conversation we were having or a reveal of the subconscious at that time. in short, they were amazing.
The collages below SOLD!!
That work I did within the context of an art journal was of interest to another ...felt pretty awesome.
Gathering in a virtual zoom environment did not hinder our collective. I personally am not a video and or a tech person. Had Sara not been steering that part of our virtual workshops, I would have struggled. She made it seamless and delightful. I was able to do my part and offer thought provoking content to collage with and to facilitate the creative subconscious process. We made a great teaching pair.
Participants at all levels in both tarot and collage found their own personal creative stride and style. I myself am a Tarot newbie. The coursework met for 4 workshops plus a few collage circles ( for fun! )
Additionally I decided to collage and pull tarot with the cycles of the new and full moon. To try Tarot on so to speak. In my own way I would create a collage, and then pull a card to see what Tarot had to say. Most of the time the card contributed, which I found absolutely fascinating!
Over the course of the year. A community formed. Journals were written in. New ideas were found. Recorded sessions were revisited. All of it was rather groovy.
and lovely.
and emotionally rich for those who participated in lots of unexpected ways. myself included.
I felt that it was important to cull the collage work that fit into this vibrational category to bring closure to our workshop.
2021 will find Sara hosting a year long pilgrimage deeply steeped in her Tarot teachings.
I am launching a Collage with Karen series. ( by email invitation only. email me if you are interested )
2020 Graffiti
I am a huge fan of many of the local street artists here.
In 2015 when I arrived in WA I loved the experience of the "find".
Graffiti Art is very transient. It may not be there the next time you look for it.
One artist lost an epic collection of work to a 2018 fire.
This type of art changes all the time.
I began following the particular graffiti collection below in July. Things Covid keep me at home most of the time but I could easily drive by or walk socially distanced along Granary Ave. Some of this art began as a form of expression for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Since, it has evolved, morphed, and become a variation of itself. The art is mostly the work of Matt French, Taj Eye and maybe even some work by Shawn Cass. I apologize that the indentity of all the artists are not always clear to me.
In the beginning the construction partition boards had corporate signage for the new buildings going up. The community didn't seem to care for that signage. Somehow they were painted over and the graffiti artists gained full access. I thought that was pretty great.
In November, my 11 year logic board died. I had to replace my technology. Things tech have changed in the last decade. While I was grateful that most of my back up was in tact. I lost two graffiti shoots. Very frustrating. I then got caught up in the hoopla and transition of things new. I lost weeks.
I admit to being very overwhelmed at the moment. The work flow that I am use to is all different. YEARS of images are now on an external harddrive making sourcing and working with them a bit of a hassle. At least a hassle to me. I no longer have the post-production software that I love.
Below are the works from Granary Ave as I photographed them by date. My image taking style is up close and personal. I am fascinated by the layers and depth to some of these pieces, as well as the art within the art. All the photographs below are mine. I purposely don't watermark images of graffiti though - it's not my work.
Its my desire to bring honor to what these talented creators make and to share how I see it.
I should add that this is only a partial collection of my graffiti photography.
7-10
8-28 - the corporate signage is in a few of these.
9-10
9-25. sometimes when my time was short. I simply did a drive by ...
10-18
10-21
10-30
12-4 - I love how the tree shadow became part of this.
A 2021 update to this blog post. I go by all of these often but sometimes I forget my camera or just drive by.
Birds Of 2020
2023 update:
I decided to submit 6 not yet shown Bird Collages to 2024 Smith and Vallee's Annual Bird Invitational. Read on to see the 2020 back story to this project, which birds are still available for sale and which have sold.
chickadee, chimney swift, phoebe, screech owl, golden crown kinglet, yellow warbler ( image resources are dated 1900, and from the bird book created by 9 yr old bobby zimmerman in 1935. bobby was the father of a gal I know! )
Labor Day weekend I set aside an afternoon and pulled out a variety of magazine sources looking for birds. I was thinking ahead to the 11th annual Bird Invitational, a large group winter show hosted by Smith and Vallee Gallery in Edison. Be sure to follow them on Instagram. This will be my third year participating. I had no particular plan that weekend, I just began making merely for the love of collaging and to see what bird works I could come up with.
Note: this post has a lot of images in it. and many different birds. I thought rather than make this post any longer than it already is. I will title the birds over at the album I made. you can click on and peek at it here.
It took me a year to perfect this particular collage technique. It mimics quilting, particularly, crazy quilt style, but with paper.
Each stitched collage is constructed with multiple layers much like a quilt, and finished by adding a backing that is then folded over to the front and stitched. This offers a framing to each unique piece.
Backings are mostly from fashion magazines and selected usually for their bright or matching color.
this backing has the title of the bird "crow" stitched in and pulls out things blue. this collage SOLD
These four 8x8 stitched collages are what I first made that Labor Day weekend.
I had been gifted an old ledger the summer before. In it was stationary from a chicken breeder with letters written in 1919! Chickens are birds...yes? There was also handwritten communications between her and her niece from 1922 with the sweetest bird rendering. Get a load of the vintage advertising.
The three of these were made from those materials:
But then a friend of mine completely surprised me with a package in the mail. In it was a variety of torn magazine pages, something she sends from time to time. Plus a remarkable treasure of a bird book, hand-made in 1935 by a 9 year old boy, Bobby Zimmerman - the father of a dear and mutual friend.
Also included were 2 envelopes of vintage bird and floral illustrations.
I could hardly believe it!!
She had no idea that I was working on a bird theme!
I know it takes a little something to tear apart something so dear, but the bird book was sent to me for that reason. And so I began to make. I did so in an order that I thought honored and grouped the like looking resources within that book.
I first made these three. The blue are strips from the cover of the original bird book. Each has similar strips from a variety of sources making them look quite wonderful all together. These have since SOLD.
I made these two which delightfully ...SOLD, to a collector for her holiday gifting!
I actually had a lot of interest in these 8x8 stitched collage pieces as I was making them. Which I loved so much. But, I decided to pause that interest until I knew what I planned to submit to "BIRDLAND" and what the gallery selected. This was the first time as an artist that I had to do that.
These 5 bird illustrations are dated back to 1900:
I turned the one below into my holiday greeting for 2020, later the original was SOLD:
I then began to develop a plan for the 20 bird illustrations. I planned to make all 20 in a row. I cut the one inch strips in advance, including strips from the wildflower illustrations. I selected backings ahead of time. I did that so that the making would be seamless and complimentary to each other. These were way way fun to make.
As a collective once finished they sure made quite the grouping! Which is what showed in the BIRDLAND exhibit!
Since 2021, the Crow SOLD, The Blue Jay was published in a literary magazine at UC Davis, groupings showed at Smith and Vallee ( as i've already mentioned ), at Allied Arts Gallery, the quail and brown thrasher showed at Schacktober Fest
These below were the last three 8x8's made from the bird book.
SO MANY BIRDS!!
Finally, I had to decide what to do with two larger illustrations. I was OK cropping all of the other birds but these needed to be whole. These two 12x12 stitched collages are what transpired - Both SOLD
The blackbird one had immediate interest and once I heard back from the gallery - it SOLD! On the back of it I had put the title from the original bird book and the paper fastener that young Bobby used to hold his book together.
Fall Consignment At Brazen
I am excited to bring in some new ideas for consignment at Bellinghams darling of a shop known as Brazen Shop + Studio. I have been with this lovely establishment from its beginnings. Time for a bit of a refresh.
I am hoping framed art offers a ready to hang option. These two collages are from my daily journal days and I think they are a nice pairing. I love the white mat with the thin black gallery frame.
These 4x6 notecards took off early this year. Sales were reassuring during pandemic hard times. Very cathartic in their making. The notecards represent the stitched collage work that took me some time to learn and perfect - most, if not all, of my 2020 collage work is stitched. Each card is truly one-of-a-kind, themed by color, they are assembled on kraft paper card stock and come with an envelope.
This is the back side/ a place to add a written note.
Brazen has hosted 2 solo exhibits for me, they helped me experiment with making and selling prints. They helped me launch the "simply a photograph" line. I am beyond grateful to be a part of their superb collection of vendors. In a shop local and or shop artisans this small boutique is a true find.
Below are what is left of the prints ( subject to availability) that are 30% OFF through December 2020. This is a great deal!!
Brazen, thanks to things pandemic now offers online shopping.
Photography = a never ending opportunity to capture visual celebrations.
