An ode to friendship, my After the Rain series explores how connection and community refresh, sustain, and bring us hope. Many times over the past several years I’ve relied on my dear friends Julia & Heather B to nourish me back to life, like a soul soaking rain. May you have the blessing of friends like mine who generously listen, love, pray, laugh, encourage, and sit with you in your grief and lament.
The pandemic suddenly forced us into pockets of isolation. My Alone Together Series contemplates the collective grief we've suffered; that keen sense of loss and disorientation all humans experience when we're separated from our circles of belonging. The series also reflects my feelings of gratefulness for the deep and caring relationships I am blessed with in my life, as well as my hope for renewal and growth as we go forward in a post-pandemic world.
My Amulet Series is a reflection on human connection. While embellishing the handwoven elements in this series, I came to view them as amulets representing kindness and tenderness. The tactile, soft warmth of the various yarns woven together are a gentle reminder that humans are made to be in community with one another. As Paul Wellstone said, we all do better when we all do better. May we all find healing connection as we go forward, hopefully sharing little talismans of kindness and tenderness with others as we go.
The title of this series draws from my Swedish heritage and study of the language. Blomma means "flower." These happily nodding daffodils bring hope, freshness, and a hint of spring all year long. When we go through seasons of winter in our lives we can find hope in the coming spring - may our lives flower once again.
This series is both a visualization of a carousel – the bright colors, painted animals, jerky movements, and carnival-like music – as well as a metaphor for the hectic pace and repetitive spinning of life. Joy and queasiness combine as we lurch along.
My Cradle the Earth series is a reflection of my deep concern for our current climate crisis. The focal point of each piece incorporates natural, found, and/or recycled objects, while the layers of collage represent our interconnectedness to creation. To learn more about my motivations for this series I invite you to visit my blog.
My creative process often feels similar to a daydream. Both daydreaming and creating are relaxed, insulated, unhurried, and contemplative. I experience a feeling of separation, almost like hovering above reality or outside my body, yet my hands are busy and mind is awake and alive to new ideas, discoveries and connections. With these mixed-media paintings I’m offering the viewer a little window of opportunity to experience their own daydream moments – small, refreshing escapes from the world where they find peace, hope, and clarity.
A fable is a short story written to cultivate moral character in the reader. This series reflects on the stories we layer around ourselves. What lessons are we soaking up in our environment? Do they lead us to truth and beauty or weakness of character? Do we need to examine our long-held beliefs and recalibrate? How do we learn the moral character to live in a way that reflects love, justice, and virtue?
Fika is an important Swedish cultural social tradition. The word loosely translates as a coffee break, yet it’s meaning is deeper than a simple cup of coffee and a baked good. Fika offers an opportunity to reset one’s mind and body, ground oneself in community, and recharge the soul. In these works I’ve used scraps of leftover upholstery fabric from my previous dining room chairs to represent times of meaningful connection with friends and family. This series is a reflection of my thoughts about the meaning of true rest and the desire to connect and share our lives with others in a meaningful way.
This series was inspired by my thoughts about the passage of time. Life marches on, pushing us forward from one season to the next even if we're not yet ready. Both sorrow and beauty live in the shifting spaces in between. I want to linger there with my memories.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11: 28
This series represents my search for meaning and peace during a difficult season. The watery backgrounds symbolize the River of Life of my faith. Living water sustains us, even when we are unable to do more than just float along with the current, carried by the prayers of others. Stitch by stitch, and prayer by prayer, this series brought me peace.
With all the instability in our world today and constant stress about the future, I've struggled to find creative energy. Working through these pieces brought me some solace and I was reminded that staying grounded in my creative practice usually opens up a little space for calm and peace to enter in. The colors I chose are reflective of time spent in nature, another important way I reconnect myself to emotional balance and perspective.
Twilight falls. The sky deepens into an inky, midnight blue as God carefully hangs His stars in the heavens. Pearly moonflowers shimmer in the night; their perfume floating past on the warm breeze. Distant music fills your heart and brings a faint, wondering smile.
"When I can go just where I want to go, there is a copse of birch trees that I know; And, as in Eden Adam walked with God, when in that quiet aisle my feet have trod I have found peace among the silver trees, known comfort in the cool kiss of the breeze, heard music in its whisper, and have known most certainly that I was not alone!" ~ Andrew Greeley
In my Of Water & Sky series, small vignettes hint at hazy sunsets, rippling streams, and leaves reflected on the surface of the water. While we often forget, we are completely reliant on this ever-cycling fusion of water and sky. As part of my process for this series I spent an afternoon mono printing papers outdoors. I gathered nearby leaves to print and marveled at the unique, intricate patterns they created. By noticing and honoring the small miracles of nature around me, I hope to draw attention to our interconnection with the natural world. When we hurt the earth, we hurt ourselves.
I love the meditative process of hand stitching on my art. Each piece in this series features embroidered details, while bright jewel tones of blue and turquoise dance together in joyful celebration.
pe·tri·chor ˈpe-trə-ˌkȯr. : a distinctive, earthy, usually pleasant odor that is associated with rainfall especially when following a warm, dry period and that arises from a combination of volatile plant oils and geosmin released from the soil into the air and by ozone carried by downdrafts. - Merriam-Webster
I love it when my teens start off a conversation with "Remember when.." Hearing their recollections of seemingly random things they found special and important when they were little is fascinating. Simple moments spent together are often much more powerful than we realize.
