Mother of Pearl Buttons, Made in Illinois

Mother of Pearl Buttons, Made in Illinois

Apr 28, 2023 | About Creativity

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...
Artists and Writers Who Work Seasonally

Artists and Writers Who Work Seasonally

Apr 15, 2022 | About Creativity

Seasons of Life and of Art Making There’s this idea about seasons of life – for example, being a mother to babies and toddlers can feel like it will last forever, and that she’ll never get back to her regular life – and it helps to think of...
Thoughts on NOT Doing the 100 Day Project

Thoughts on NOT Doing the 100 Day Project

Feb 14, 2022 | About Creativity

I love the 100 Day Project, I love the challenge, the sharing, the building my IG community. I don’t love how it feeds into unhealthy social media habits, at least for me. This year, the thought of doing the project just makes me kind of tired. I want to do a...
Review: The Piney Woods Atlas

Review: The Piney Woods Atlas

Dec 16, 2021 | About Creativity

Piney Woods Atlas: Volume III by Alicia Toldi and Carolina Porras What fun to order a book, a physical book, that was then printed just for me and I had to wait a couple of weeks for it to arrive, I’m not used to that level of waiting or anticipation anymore. I...
Craft, Leisure & Work

Craft, Leisure & Work

Aug 10, 2021 | About Creativity

I attended the Zoom Symposium in Milwaukee, WI in 2016, I think it was.  I wrote this essay in response.   Craft and the Nature of Work Those of us in Craft-with-a Capital-C care about how it is made (or we used to, this is in flux somewhat).  There was lots of...