On fire

The glowing embers in my soul have been fanned to life.

To say that I am excited about what is coming is an understatement. I have some clarity around what I want out of this life, and what I have to offer, and I now have the support necessary to bring it all together.

When I found felting in 2006 my little artistic heart just about burst out of my body. Here was this artform that allowed me to be painterly, create sculpture, and make functional pieces all at the same time (cue angel song… laaaaa!) Little mushrooms, landscapes, and stitched stones sprang from my hands. I connected with so many people and opportunities in those years in the woods with my giant pile of wool. As it does, life got complicated and I got worn out, and my interest strayed from felting. And while I still teach felting classes, make kits, or needle the occasional mushroom, it is a shift towards paper illustration that now has me jumping up and down inside. Pulling out the gelli plate and acrylics to print paper can get me in the “zone” almost instantly. Cutting up those beautiful papers makes me feel like I’m creating paintings with scissors. Paintings that are quirky and happy and full of nature. I’m entranced.

In the coming months I’ll be adding a monthly email newsletter sharing my journey, challenges, and successes. I’ll send out the occasional tutorial and news of fresh new work, as well as opportunities to connect with others in the arts. I have some fun new projects coming together that I cannot wait to share. I hope you’ll join me. If you want to get a jumpstart, you can sign up HERE.

p.s. the image here of the fiery furnace is a mobile glassblowing furnace. While my sweetheart and friends recently did glassblowing demos at the Crow Wing County Fair, I helped out by talking to people about the process and selling their work. I was rewarded with morning hot dogs cooked over this 2150° furnace (at record speed, I might add), and the joy of being around artists in their happy place.

A new project

"This activity is funded in part by a grant from the Five Wings Arts Council with funds provided by the McKnight Foundation.” 

I am so fortunate to live in a place that supports creatives. 

It would be challenging for me, nearly impossible really, to create the body of work that exists in my head without help. I’m a single mom with three teens at home, I work for a busy nonprofit, and I live in a well-loved but aging home. This grant allows me to purchase supplies that would be out of reach for me, and not worry about whether I was taking food out of my kids’ mouths to do it. 

For many years I worked in felting, but in the midst of the pandemic I found myself burned out on it. When I was introduced to monoprinting on papers, I found I enjoyed the process and the end result. But when I sat down with those papers and a pair of scissors to make a collage, that’s when something inside me lit up.  

I have, until now, been sourcing the wood panels for my pieces at thrift stores, repurposing decorative signs by sanding and gessoing over the previous designs. This approach, while frugal, leaves me dependent on luck for sourcing my panels, and doesn't allow for consistent sizing from which to make a cohesive display. The paints that I prefer are  often out of my price range. 

Over the next several months I will be creating a series of 10 paper collage pieces on 36 x 48” wood panels depicting pollinators and plants found in Minnesota. (Bees, beetles, butterflies, plants are some of my favorite things!) These paper collages will be made of paper I have printed myself, one at a time, through monoprinting. 

I’m going to learn so much throughout this process…about pollinators, about how to work large in collage, and about my ability as an artist… I can’t wait to share.

It’s been a while

To those of you who have touched base through the years, and wondered where I was.

It seems a lifetime ago that I wrote a blog called lil fish studios where I connected with others who were interested in creating a handcrafted life. I started that blog when I was newly married, with three young children, and had moved to Minnesota to a 10 acre plot of land in what felt like the middle of nowhere. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here, I wasn’t adjusting to the culture, and I needed connection. I found my people online through that blog, and some amazing opportunities to share my work with the world. Eventually I found people in person, I added a fourth feral child to the mix, and dozens of chickens, a handful of ducks, and lots of at-home adventures. Those wild days at home, raising my young people, were some of the most beautiful and challenging of my life.

As it does, life threw us some curveballs and I transitioned from at-home mom/artist into a breadwinner role at a nonprofit arts org, The Crossing Arts Alliance, where I currently serve as Executive and Artistic Director. I attempted to stay connected to my art and my online presence in the early days of that transition, but that proved too difficult with the new responsibilities I was carrying.

Through these past several years there have been peaks and valleys in my art practice. I taught, mostly felting, in my community and beyond. I made a piece here and there for exhibitions at Crossing Arts. In 2018 I had a solo show of some felting explorations I had been working on. I collaborated on some public murals. I helped many, many people make their own art. I have loved all of those things… but the connection to my own work, and in some ways, to me, was not the same. 

My children are no longer feral babes in the woods, but grown and nearly grown people. My oldest served in the Marines and is now married. The younger three, all teenagers. 

We’ve been through losses great and small, grief, mental health concerns, the end of a marriage, a pandemic…  I’ve bought a house with lots of personality, in town, and am infusing it with art and love, and nature, albeit in a different way than I was able with my house in the woods. I have good friends and people who love and care for me. And now, after all this time, it’s time to rekindle that connection to my own work, and to me, in a way that is true to who I am at this time. 

For now I am sharing some photos of my work, past and present. I have a project on the horizon that I am excited about involving paper collage, and I hope to share that here too. Beyond that, I make no promises, because life is tricky, but I can tell you I have a lot of hope for my journey, and if you’ve made it this far, I thank you for sharing this (new) first step with me.

Lisa