I had a great year of art, and I hope you did too!
In 2025, I visited a few museums. I was so happy to visit the Philadelphia Art Museum in February. I used to live near Philadelphia, so it was like visiting an old friend. A lot of it was exactly the way I remembered it, and of course there were new exhibits to see that I really loved. I also saw plenty of street art while in the city! I also visited San Fransisco’s deYoung museum, which had such an interesting array of artworks. I attended a conference at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. I met artist Judith Lowry, an indigenous artist who works with themes of family, loss, and indigenous culture. I loved the vibrancy and color in her works, and they were emotionally touching.
Ethan and I finished our “jungle in a jar” piece. We took our inspiration from Rachel Ignotofsky, the amazing science artist and illustrator, as well as Ethan’s love of the Wild Kratts and all animals. We started a fantasy map as our next cooperative artwork! As I traveled around Alaska, I worked on my drawing nemesis: mountains. For some reason, drawing mountains just does not come easily for me. Luckily there are plenty around to practice on. I also finished my second pottery class with Birchgrove Studios (10/10 would recommend!). I painted wine glasses for the Palmer Museum of History and Art’s Summer Wine Walk, which was a lot of fun. I explored lots of fun media and techniques including turning egg cartons into faces, Lego printmaking, foam and cardboard collagraphs, and lots more! I also have been coming back again and again to blind contour portraits.
I saw a post somewhere recently that compared the typical “adult” day (working a job full time, busy with kids, home, responsibilities) to the typical school child’s day, which involves lots of learning and practice, but also has time set aside for play, exercise, art, music, and reading. I thought, wow I need to set time aside for these things like my school administrators did for me as a child. I need to make sure I am working and playing! I’ve found more peace, more gentleness, more calm, and more joy in my life as I’ve made time for art. I don’t have a lot of time, really. I just have to squeeze it in where I can. And it’s enough.
