Spring!

Oh hello my sneezy friend.

Hello old friends and new faces! I met many of you in Baltimore this past winter at American Craft Council, or the Greater Goods market. Welcome!

I’ll be exhibiting work at the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art annual art festival this weekend, May 16-17, in Reston, VA and I would love to see some familiar faces :)

I’ll be showing mostly paintings and a handful of prints (no pots this time). A lot of those paintings will be coming fresh from my residency at the Peter Bullough Foundation in Winchester, Virginia this April.

Oh to plein-air paint in Shenandoah in the spring! It was such a treat to work closely with a small cohort of artists across different disciplines.

Some of the rainy day car paints were my favorites.

As well as the night paints, with bugs buzzing around my headlamp and a small tickle of fear in quiet woods and empty streets.

I loved having a studio to sprawl in; it was a joy to stumble and create in my own space.

I’ve been writing letters, making lots, thinking more, wondering what it’s all about, wondering if I’ve known all along and forgot in all the talking. It’s coming back to me (I think) or something new (I feel).

• it’s good to eat every meal outside

• it’s good to nap at 3pm

• it’s good to read books

• it’s good to work small

• it’s good to hammock

• it’s good to be near water

• it’s good to eat avocados

• it’s good to do dishes

• it’s good to call friends

• it’s good to walk every day

Fun fact: Dandelions draw like a marker and suck up ink like a straw.

I taught a “drawing with sticks” community workshop and it was a delight to see all the ways we can express ourselves with the simplest materials.

I hope you all are well! Here’s to fruitful summer for us all. <3

Sent from a block of wood on top of a milk crate,

Arista