February

Friday 2.1.24 - Sunday 2.4.24

CIIS MFA intensive in San Francisco! Talked with classmates and teachers about my project, the proposed timeline, and what I’m doing now/next. I feel like I haven’t done “enough,” yet I know I’m working on laying the critical foundation: community connections, support, and a thoughtful discernment about the “bones” of the structure I’m planning, what shape it will take, how the materials will feel and be experienced, etc.

We made art every day, and I am so alive when I get to do that in the presence of others. There are no rules, but fairly strict constraints in the form of time and materials available. These feel like valuable insights that I should pay attention to.

One of the workshops used the form of three-act structure and encouraged a three-panel piece to depict the next three months: February, March, April – and what we plan to work on during those time periods. I found this incredibly helpful and even though what emerged for me is half nonsensical collage – “A / healing / made from mud” – it is helping me to anchor into the baseline of what I am focused on right now.

I. February - BEAMS; connections; community; building; grounding; REST

II. March - CANOPIES; sewing/weaving; blankets/pillows; Research (cultures/colonialism/land/environment/mother & nature); Sukkah

III. April - SCULPTURES; Resistance & return to nature; tunneling home

And it serves as a visual reminder, a triptych, to focus on, like an inspiration board, but half poetry/collage and half project management.

 

Sunday, 2.11.24

I am nervous and somewhat irritable all morning. I stayed up too late finishing my Reverb, and didn’t sleep well last night, and the baby woke up very early.

You can read my Reverb here. It is very much about the project I’m working on, and the spiritual questions of transformation (transfiguration?) that are leading me to create it.

It went beautifully, of course, just like I knew it would. I tripped over my words some; I doubted whether I was too close or not close enough to the microphone; yet it was lovely. Just the right number of people came (it was also Superbowl Sunday), and it felt like the people who needed to hear it, did. Chris came with Nova, and I held her for the first part (until she got too wiggly and Chris took her back).

Afterwards I talked to Amy D. and Sarah S. about coordinating Artists’ Guild meet-ups before COTA once a month; I’ll bring art supplies to share, and we will make art side-by-side, like I used to do with my free Community Art Nights, before the pandemic. I feel fulfilled in coming full circle, back to this obvious place, and with the warm embrace of community, curiosity, and wonder alongside me.

 

Monday 2.12.24 - Tuesday 2.13.24

Project meeting with my academic advisor, Carolyn Cooke. Updated website & drafted project journal.

 

Thursday, 2.15.24 - It snowed.

 

Tuesday, 2.20.24 - Saturday 2.24.24

The cherry blossoms started to bud.

 

Lots of progress and momentum on the project this week:

  • Emailed Amy D. (community architects), Sarah S. (board president), cc’d Katherine (pastor) re: Artists’ Guild meetups before COTA (apostleschurch.org) once a month on Sundays. Pick a date to start (Third Sundays, starting 3/17! Free and open to the public, 3pm at the Fremont Abbey.) I feel like this will help me keep up momentum in my practice, and in my community building/grounding for this project. I’m excited to start.

I keep thinking of different potential materials to build the initial structure in the yard. I would really love for it to be made of small tree trunks/branches, stripped down and tied together, like a sukkah. But I don’t know that I’ll be able to source that in time, given the unpredictability of the natural materials (plus my ignorance!) - even though there is a wooded park next door. One idea is to call the Kirkland parks department and see if the folks who clear the paths for the Watershed Park might be able to help, or at least give me their blessing.

 

  • Thursday the weather was nice, and I took a walk through the Watershed Park for the first time in a long time. I noticed there are lots of long, thin branches and twigs lying around next to the trails; they get cut during trail cleanup, or fall and get moved to the sides. In the middle of the trail, I ran into a parks worker, Jeremy, and a volunteer. Heather. They were discussing a thicket of blackberry brambles.

  • Jeremy gave me his card and told me who to reach out to if I wanted to talk about gleaning large quantities of wood, but agreed that if I took one or two smallish branches at a time, that should be fine. He pointed out that larger fallen branches or those that have been there a long time are important parts of the ecosystem.

  • Heather asked if I wanted to use blackberry brambles in my sculpture, which I hadn’t considered! She said she hosts monthly volunteer events teaching about how to clear them safely, with leather gloves, and volunteers prune back patches of them from the trails in the park. She makes wreaths out of them sometimes, thorns and all! At first I thought this was a terrible idea for a sculpting material, but now I’m considering it…perhaps an apt metaphor for some of the less-fun parts of becoming a parent, or when I myself become too prickly to come near?

 

I’ve decided I’m going to just go to Home Depot and buy the central poles/beams. I’m considering digging holes and sinking coffee cans (well, formula cans — I still have the last 8 or so empty cans from when we were formula-feeding, before Nova graduated to whole milk) into the ground, and pouring cement to hold up the beams.

  • I selected the wood type I wanted, semi-rounded cherrytone lumber 8’ beams, and went into Home Depot and asked if I could have some cut to 6’ and then delivered to my house. I spoke with a very helpful man named Nader who said they don’t usually do that, but he could cut them himself and then arrange to have them delivered the next day. So kind! I wonder why they don’t have a system set up for this in the store already, since they do custom cutting there, and they do home delivery, separately.

Would still like to find some reeds for attaching the top, so they can be curved?…

  • Ordered some from Amazon, #8 spline, natural jute reeds, .2” diameter, ~65ft per roll (x 3; two different brands to test out). They need to be soaked in water for a couple of hours in advance, then I can play with them.

  • Considering what I will use to at curved-reed connection points, I bought jute twine for tying, but also some biodegradable cello-tape. This is the first time I’ve really thought about or researched biodegradable tape, and I got excited and bought two types. One is meant to be a packing tape and says “BIODEGRADABLE” all over it, which I kind of find funny (reminds me of “CAUTION” tape) and might try to integrate into my structure/installation, with the words visible.

 

Did some research on other building material sources to check out: Habitat for Humanity Store Southcenter is where they send building materials, but their website doesn’t show any inventory like what I’m looking for. (They do have a table saw for $60, though! Very tempted, but not sure it’s worth trying to get it here, AND where would I put it, AND tbh I’m kind of scared…)

Also looked into Second Use Seattle (seconduse.com) building store, and local Tool Lending Libraries.

  • Beams arrived! They were dropped off by the front of the house while I was taking a nap on Saturday, and Chris carried them into the backyard through the side gate (apparently Nova helped, carrying the remaining 2’ pieces…awww…)

 

I am already amazed at what’s unfolding, to be honest. Which is funny because I haven’t physically done much yet. I’m trying to trust the process. It’s starting to unfold; sometimes you just have to do the thing that is set out before you, take the steps even though you can’t see where you’re going. I wasn’t really sure this MFA would all work out when I started (that I would be able to translate a remote program into real-world, local connections and community-building), but it feels real now. It seems to be working, despite my tendency towards hyper-introversion. I am seeing the connections that are weaving together to support this project, like invisible spider webs holding it all together…

 

Wednesday, 2.28.24

Connections:
A (partial) list of people and places I have woven into my project creation so far…

  • Carolyn - project advisor at CIIS

  • Amy S - project reviewer, friend, curator, teacher

  • Chris - spouse, supporter

  • Nova, who meddles in all my projects but is a constant inspiration

  • PJ - friend, woodworker

  • Anna - friend; sewing advice

  • Katherine - friend, pastor

  • Amy D - friend, community member, community architect

  • Sarah S - community member, artist, MFA

  • Jeremy - Green Kirkland, parks worker, Watershed Park next to my house

  • Heather - volunteer, Green Kirkland

  • Green Kirkland Partnership (greenkirkland.org) - “engages the local community in the restoration and care of natural areas in City parks”

  • Nader - pro services, Home Depot

  • Seattle ReCreative - inspiration; reuse art store; nonprofit

  • Seattle Artists’ League - inspiration; classes & community; Ruthie V

  • The Fishbowl & Rya, founder - community art gallery, inspiration

  • The Heybrook - local business supporting moms and infants with integrated childcare and community groups; inspiration

  • Second Use - reuse building store

  • Home Depot - cut and delivered beams; concrete

  • COTA - community

  • Harbor Freight Tools - they have long-handled “drain spade” that I want to help with post hole digging, for cheap; didn’t even know they existed before

  • The Nerdy Cardboard Experimental Blog - DeAnn - nerdycardboardlove.com (found through IG)

  • Seattle REconomy Tool Library - Shoreline & NE Seattle tool lending; signed up for $40 student membership

  • Southeast Seattle Tool Library **made a donation 2/27. Go in Saturday 10-12 to pick up post hole digger?

  • Our friends, Brian and Gabri and others, who will help with post setup when the weather is nicer

  • Kristin and Charlie - neighbors I met because I asked about wood for the project, and turns out they have a son just 6 weeks younger than Nova!