We’ve just begun a new year and I feel cautiously relieved. The pressure on my shoulders has lifted just a bit and I trust it will continue to lighten, more and more. As the days unfold before us, I feel hopeful with a certain melancholy desperation, that we will dig deep and make lasting changes. I’m tired and I know you are too. But we must keep moving forward.

For me, making art is more often than not a process oriented system of obsession. I jest, but in truth, I often feel as though a piece of work is like a problem to be solved that is very difficult to stop thinking about until it’s finished. I find it challenging to stay focused on the daily rituals that need attention as I’m distracted by mustering up and clarifying ideas in my mind. It helps to write things down or just do the work so that I can let it go and move on.

During art school, I often felt a tug of sorrow in my heart because I knew the experience would come to an end. I wanted to get everything I could out of that time. I felt so inspired by the things that I saw that I walked around with a flutter in my chest.