Call for Art – Clocking in for Unpaid Labor

Call for Art – Clocking in for Unpaid Labor

How to Participate Clocking in for Unpaid Labor is a new public participation art project where people are invited to collage, sew, quilt, paint, whatever, a time card in order to express something about the unpaid labor that they do. Whether that work is emotional...
Mother of Pearl Buttons, Made in Illinois

Mother of Pearl Buttons, Made in Illinois

I’m just back from a conference where I had a full circle experience about mother of pearl buttons, and I have some cool pictures to show you, about how buttons used to be made. My state arts advocacy organization, the Arts Alliance IL, holds a conference called...
Residency Report: Back from the Lake

Residency Report: Back from the Lake

Resident Life at the Lakeside Inn Residency For two weeks, this pond was my view out of the window, and I finally managed to get a photo of a heron, who came to the pond to eat frogs and koi. For two weeks, bird sounds were normal and my artist/writer roommates and I...
Winter News from the Studio

Winter News from the Studio

The year started off with a bang – as I installed the Clocking in for Unpaid Labor Show at the Orland Park Park Public Library on January 3rd, and now, in early March, no wait – mid-March (!), I’m preparing for a show in the window space at Ignition...
It’s finishing time!

It’s finishing time!

As in, time to finish these quilts! I’ve been good about finishing smaller quilted works, banners and small wall pieces. Less good about finishing larger quilts. (My excuse is that I need nice weather so I can use spray-on basting glue.) Let’s take a look...
Monsters Show!

Monsters Show!

When Mary Lynn Mahoney, the outreach librarian at the Orland Park Public Library put out a call for “Mythical Monsters,” I naturally went first to Greek Mythology. My kids and I listened to nearly all of the Percy Jackson and related books by Rick Riordon....
A Look Back; A Look Forward

A Look Back; A Look Forward

On Looking Back I usually do a year in review post, but I didn’t for 2022. So here’s a mini look back and a look forward. I did extensive reviewing of the year on my own, back in November. Quite possibly too much reviewing and goal setting, as I did the...
Dollhouse Art Center Take Over with Mel Kolstad

Dollhouse Art Center Take Over with Mel Kolstad

When I saw that Mel Kolstad was working on 1,000 collages, each one individually made and just 1″ x 1″, I thought that would be a cool art show for the pink “Angelica Kauffman Dollhouse Art Center.” I thought we’d install the art not only...