February- Already!

It feels like the months are flying by one faster than another. Since my last post we moved to a new house and have been travelling almost non-stop. I've needed January just to recoop and collect my thoughts for a fruitful (winter and) spring.

Before November I was on a crunch to finish three engravings for a portfolio that Jon Lee from San Antonio and I were organizing. The theme for the portfolio was animal ABC's. We selected 9 talented artists who worked in different media from around the world who worked with nature themes and asked them to create three letters. It turned out so great I'll have to write a separate post on the whole portfolio and introduce all the artists and their work. Below- Lari Gibbons and me posing infront of our portfolio at the MAPC conference.

The portfolio was exhibited at the Mid America Print Council conference in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in November. I was able to participate to see our beautiful portfolio on the wall and speak in the "Craft and Collaboration: Printmaking Outside of Academia" panel. It was great to share my experiences with students through the talk, get a chance to connect with friends and be around people who shared my passion. Living in a country town in Germany is not giving a lot of opportunities to hang out with printmaking peers. BTW Pinteresting has a lot of great articles from the conference if you missed it. If I get a chance, I'll try to post some thoughts too, even though it will be waaaaay late.

News- several prints are featured in a couple of ongoing shows. First the Wood Engravers Network exhibition has moved to Westville Gallery in New Haven, CT. It will be up until Feb 22nd, and then move to Seattle Visual Concepts, WA from 2/20-6/5/13 and Randolph County Community Arts Center in Elkins, WV from 7/1-8/22/13. One of my pieces was accepted into the Mid America Print Council Juried Show which is up at the McDonough Museum of Art at Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH. That exhibition will be up until March 15th. If you're around go check them out. I am also working to update the Etsy store with the three new ABC prints.

During Christmas break we took a trip to Finland to see my family. We stayed for two weeks and I was able to squeeze several interviews after the holidays were over for the wallhaning project. I was able to listen to first hand stories of how life was before the wars from a elderly lady and talk to people about handcrafts their mothers or grandmothers had done. The project was also featured in a newpaper article and through that I have had about five contact requests with people who have old wallhanings and have memories about them to share.

In January my 16 month daughter started part time day care, which frees up some hours each week for catching up on printing and sewing. I am working on finishing up the editions for the ABC portfolio and some graphic design work for a friend in Finland. As soon as all that is finished, I look forwards to heading up with the first prints for the wallhanging project. My goal is to finish at least three prints for it this year. The first one is a little daunting to begin since I am still playing around with ideas how to translate the old handembroidery tradition to printed form. I'll just have to jump in and adjust as I go along.

I promise it wont take half a year to write again. ;) The ABC portfolio is still fresh in my mind and it was such a success- I can't want to share it with you. Have a great week!