Category: Artmaking

  • 372 Days

    Today I got in my darkroom for the first time in over a year. I made a lot of dumb mistakes, and wasted a lot of paper, but today I got in my darkroom for the first time in over a year.

  • Dating My Inner Artist

    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.

  • Seeking Creative Rest

    Seeking Creative Rest

    I successfully defended my dissertation a few weeks ago. I am now “Doctor.” The defense went wonderfully, and it was a really positive end to a very long… experience. (I hate the word “journey” when used to describe doctoral programs.) I thought after I finished my dissertation, I would have a lot more time to…

  • Creating Cyanotypes, Creating a Dissertation

    Creating Cyanotypes, Creating a Dissertation

    In February or March, I started playing with cyanotypes on fabric. Doing cyanotypes in winter in Minnesota is… not the easiest thing to do, but I was just experimenting, playing around. Over a period of several months, I kept experimenting with different natural materials, different weather conditions, different exposure times. And then, somehow, my cyanotypes…

  • Artmaking First

    “Artmaking first. Process over product.” One of the difficult things about being an arts-based researcher, for me, is trying to figure out how to find time for artmaking over writing. Ultimately, the academy (the whole system I’m depending on to grant me my PhD) honors writing more than artmaking, and my dissertation is primarily a…