When I was earning my BFA degree for visual arts, one of the required classes was on color theory. It makes sense seeing as how so much of art depends on how colors interact with each other. During the class, the professor, Merle Sykora, who also happened to be my weaving professor, gave us an interesting color challenge. He provided each of us with 2 index cards. We were to combine two colors of gouache…
Having moved recently, I was missing our basement pencil sharpener. I have a couple of small, hand-held pencil sharpeners to use, but they aren’t effective at making a nice point without chewing up the wood on my cheap, soft pencils. What I really needed, and wanted, was a sturdy hand-crank pencil sharpener that mounted to a wall, preferably in the basement. You know, the pencil sharpeners found at the back of most school rooms that…
Recently, I have had occasion to take care of a young child. Having raised three children, you’d think this would be easy for me. For the most part it is. I can weather the constant shifting of emotions and change in activities by using the art of distraction like a pro. I can swiftly change a diaper or an outfit as though I’m wrangling an eel (which I kind of am!). But, navigating baby gear…
I spent much of last week driving in the Twin Cities metro. It’s an area I haven’t had to navigate much on my own because my husband loves to drive and has an excellent directional ability, so he’s done almost all the driving whenever we visit. (He’s so good at driving that even if he gets momentarily lost and turns the wrong way, he instantly knows it, saying, “This doesn’t feel right.”) As a passenger,…
I have been heavy of heart and mind this week with the mass shooting at the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, which followed a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, which followed a mass shooting at a church in Laguna Woods, California, which followed a mass shooting …, which followed a mass shooting …, which followed a mass shooting …. There have been so damn many mass shootings in this country that one…