I’ve spent the last several months taking a creative break, creative sabbatical, creative rest. I haven’t been making or doing anything. I’ve allowed myself to completely give up my artistic practices.

I have been going on artist’s dates.

Although the dates are supposed to be solo, I’ve taken a few dates with other people. My niece and I went to the orchestra and had a really nice night, and my husband and I went and saw The Goonies, since I’d never seen that movie. My mom and I spent the day at a gigantic fabric store, and I met a friend at an art show.

But most of my artist dates have been alone. I attended a talk by Katya Oicherman, which was great. I saw the McKnight Fellows’ show at the Textile Center and spent hours there, gazing at the work. I also played online bingo with the Surface Design Association—and won!

One of the most memorable artist’s dates I went on was a pop-up exhibit from the Wangensteen Historical Library at the U of M. They had very large and very small books on display, including this incredible 19th century book of lithographic prints. It was such a cool display, and since it was in one of the medical buildings, it was a corner of campus I’ve never visited as a student. I was glad I checked it out.

I also went on a date that almost felt like it was “cheating” to count it as an artist’s date. It was very late in the week, and I hadn’t done anything. I ending up spending some time at a coffee shop doing logic puzzles—it was one of the few times I’ve gotten in a flow state while on my creative break, even though the puzzle was too hard and I couldn’t solve it. Even though it was a last minute “cheater” sort of date, it was so much fun—which is exactly what an artist’s date is supposed to be.