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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Wishing for PEACE in 2024

• Off to PLAYA for an awarded artist residency

• Visit me at CODEX IX: Feb 4 – 7, 2024, new venue HJK in Oakland, California

• Owed to The Mountain receives First Place

• The Hairy Times acquired by Harvard University

• Awarded a 5-week artist residency at Township 10

• Awarded a RACC Arts3C Grant

I will be working in the Sandhill print studio at PLAYA – experimenting with mono printing and delving into my next artist book on wasps. My collaborator, Kate Taormina, has opened up a whole new world to me. She has shared that there are roughly 150,000 described species of wasps. But scientists who study wasps believe the estimate is more like THREE MILLION!. They range in size from 2 inches long to others that are smaller than the eye can see. Wasps play important roles in ecosystems: they hunt other insect species – reducing the need for chemical pest management – they are incidental pollinators, and they inhabit all eco-regions except Antarctica.

Stay tuned to learn more about these fascinating creatures through intimate discovery in the form of an artist book.

Please come visit my table W29 (located in the North West Corner against the wall) at CODEX IX in Oakland, California Feb.4-7, 2024. I am very lucky to have Max and Lisa help me this year. I look forward to showing you my projects: Owed to The Mountain, NOURISH, object n. object v., and three new unique accordion inkblot books. I will  also have fine prints and digitally printed copies of Owed to The Mountain for sale.

Each day I will be giving away a free copy of the trade edition of Owed to The Mountain from a drawing at 4 PM. All you need to do is stop by my table and give me your email address to enter.

I am grateful for the recognition and support from the Decatur Artist Alliance and the Decatur Library in Decatur, Georgia. Thank you jurors: Macy Chadwick, Tatana Kellner, and Eileen Wallace for this honor! I made a new video that you can watch by clicking HERE that shows how the box opens, every page of the letterpress book, and a slide show documenting how it was made.

The Hairy Times was acquired by Harvard University in December of 2023!

I am thrilled to have received a Spring artist residency at Township 10, nestled in a green cove in the Blue Ridge mountains of Western North Carolina. I will be working on a new series of Northwest bats. Their heads, bodies, feet and hands will be made of clay while their wings will be made from stretched handmade abaca paper. I am very excited to spend 5 weeks experimenting with clay and handmade paper in a part of the country I have never been before. I am very appreciative for receiving grant funding to help pay for this unique opportunity from an Arts3C grant award from The Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Photo taken at Silver Falls State Park, OR on my sister’s birthday in December.

We had a wonderful day – weather was clear and water falls were gushing!

I took this photo on Max’s birthday hike in the Gorge at Latourell Falls in October.

These days are dark from war and natural disasters. Climate change is wreaking havoc and the world’s inability to make the necessary changes away from fossil fuel  are slowed by capitalism and the devastating chasm between the wealthy few and the desperate many.  Conservative political power is strangling our democracy – it is hanging on by a spider thread.

As we look forward to a new year – let’s all do our part in demanding a holistic approach in caring for all humans and every living being by making the world a kind and healthy home for all.

I highly recommend getting out in nature as much as possible. I always feel rejuvenated and more hopeful after spending time amongst the trees, wild animals, fungi, running water, and fresh air.

Love & Peace,

diane