May & Early June 2021

There were sketches and little collages and maybe a few poems from May 2020 until May 2021, but mostly there was teaching art and everyday life-taking time away from personal art making. Then the cicadas arrived and I love the cicadas (Brood X). They show up in Maryland every seventeen years.  The last time they had arrived, I was in my second year of teaching and I caught lots of cicadas to share with my middle school students. I also made a linocut print (Cicadas Suck Sap) and printed a few shirts for friends. I decided to make a new linocut print and shirts to celebrate these amazing creatures' arrival in 2021!  I told my friends and family, "send me a shirt and I'll print cicadas on it for you."  I printed around 50 shirts!  I also ate lunch with the cicadas outside of my school every day, they were loud and great company! I also painted a painting expressing the sound and movement of the cicadas.

Shibori Project. April-May 2020.

 April 2020 was a creative time because there was suddenly "time."  I had wanted to do a shibori project with indigo for years.  I wanted it to be a shibori party, where friends could come and dye cloth.  I envisioned rows of indigo dyed fabric shifting, hanging in the breeze and sunlight.  There were no parties in April 2020, but I decided to start the project myself as a "trial run."  I still want to have a shibori/indigo party one of these days.  This project kept me calm and focused!  Each night, I tied bundles, used rubberbands and clips with wood and juice lids, stitched lines into cloth, and wrapped river pebbles my son and I had gathered on long walks.  Then I spent two days dyeing the cotton tea towels and a few shirts, hanging it all on clotheslines in my backyard.  Once everything was dry, ironed and folded, I mailed most of the cloth out to friends and family to bring cheer in a time of disconnected loneliness.  Cloth and mail can bring unimaginable comfort.

Easter Reduction Print-April, 2020.

I was thing about sugar egg dioramas and Lenten candles when I planned these reduction print Easter cards.  After printing, I mailed them out to friends and family all over the country. During the lockdown/early pandemic, the mail was a powerful way to connect.