happy re:birthday to re:mused

I’m excited and anxious to be marking this year of my birth with the relaunch of re:mused studio. A decade ago, while in between full-time jobs, I started “re:mused studio” as a place for my independent design, photography and branding projects. Over this past year, through a lot of introspection and iteration on what a creative life would look like beyond my 9-10-5 (or 10 somedays), re:mused re:surfaced. I kept running up against not being able to define a clear path forward, as too many things pulled a me simultaneously. Simply put, I’m inspired by too many things to make choice. There is no singular muse, no one craft, no one style, no one process I’m willing to say will fuel me for this lifetime. I am constantly being re:mused. So I decided to lean into the uncertainty and commitment phobia and create a space to share with you what I’m currently working on as a maker and who/what/where is inspiring me. I’m dreaming up ways to share other makers, what muses them and explore what their work ignites in my process through conversation and collaboration. It’s still just a kernel of an idea, but I’ve decided that’s an okay place to start.

For the first re:launch, I’m happy and at the same time incredibly nervous to share with you a project that has been culminating over the last few months and has been probably the closest I’ve experienced to a state of “flow” some describe. But again, we’re leaning into it! It began as a meditation exercise on the full moon of Samhain (the day after Halloween) and unlocked something I’ve found to be incredibly therapeutic and energizing simultaneously. This collection of mandalas are a combination of pencil and watercolor, inspired by the natural elements of the seasons they were created in.

Looking for patterns and listening to them:

I’ve always been drawn to pattern since I was a young artist. I was always in awe of the traditional Tibetan sand mandalas and the ability to let it go and ‘destroy’ the work at the end of it all, but hadn’t ever considered the practice for myself. Recently, however the shapes and patterns of mandalas and mandala-like creations kept coming up in my world and my work.

I begun incorporating the patterns of the crocheted doilies my Swedish great grandmother made in my ceramics practice. Pressing the patterns into slabs of clay to make anything from wall hangings to platters to vases, brought together the textures of a soft textile with the clay and pulled generations of women makers in my family together to create something new. (This passing down of craft is something I’m very interested in exploring further.) The beautiful nature-inspired patterns of traditional Swedish folk art I’d grown up with especially around the holidays was something I kept being drawn to as well.

I even stumbled upon a book of dried flower art amongst my mother’s many floral related books that had the most stunning flower mandalas that made my insides light up. It was all starting to connect for me.

I began experimenting with the practice of crystal gridding and found myself photographing the beauty they created, as well as floral and plant elements I gathered throughout the season. When I started creating the watercolor mandalas, they became a natural complement to crystals and an easy base for the grids themselves to live on.

As far as process, each painting works off of multiples of 8, a number special to me and provides really the only set of parameters in what is otherwise a very intuitive and improvised way of working. I play with infusing the water with specific crystals connecting to an intention, such as fire quartz, fluorite and citrine. Some were made on specific events, such as the Winter Solstice, which has come out of a growing connection and honoring of time marked within nature’s cycles and the rituals that humans have used to mark these throughout time.

I’ll be sharing more in the coming days and weeks about other artists inspiring me. So, if you made it this far… thank you and stay tuned!

For this re:lease, I’ll be donating a portion of sales to Intersection for the Arts’ Safety Net Fund. In their words: The mission of “Safety Net Fund” is simple: provide stability and support to artists that make their livelihood from events. The funds will be used to offer grants that support artists and performers who have lost their source of livelihood in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

I consider myself very grateful to still be making a living during this time and will continue to find ways to support and give back where I can. I will be posting the donations to maintain transparency. If you have any other organizations for consideration, please reach out, as this will be an ongoing part of what I do with re:mused.

Thank you for your time and interest. It means more than you know!