It’s the calm before the storm — or not. I’ve been working hard at putting out proposals and now I’m waiting to hear back.

The biggest thing I’ve got out there is a proposal to create an installation for this year’s Burning Man Festival in Nevada. I’ve applied for an art grant and should hear from them by later in this month. If we get funded I don’t know if I’ll be more excited or terrified. It’s a small project in the scheme of art at Burning Man, but for me, it’s big. By my calculations, it would be at least 8 weeks of full time work to create the banners I’ve envisioned. Fingers crossed.

I made a piece for a call for entries for the exhibition, Minitextil, in Lake Como, Italy. I should hear about that one by the middle of March, too. I don’t usually make pieces specifically for calls but I’ve been thinking about making really small pieces for a couple of years. It seemed that this was a good opportunity to follow through on that. It was a push but I finished and photographed the piece on the day of the deadline (phew!).

I’m  pleased with not only the piece, but also my photos. I’ve been thinking for a while that I need to be able to take good quality photos of my work. I love my photographer, he makes everything look so sexy, but I can’t afford to have every piece shot. I end up not submitting pieces for shows because I don’t have good images. I really need to get good documentation of every piece I make, so it felt good to be able to do it myself.

I also sent some images out for the Bellwether Sculpture Biennial and will hear on that one in April. I got a “no” from Fantastic Fibers in Kentucky, go figure. I’ve been the show twice before, and even won a prize there, but it goes to show that you can never predict what a jury will decide. I’ve read that if you’re not getting rejected, you’re not applying for enough things.

I will be having a two-person show June through September with Larry Calkins at Aljoya Thornton Place. Yes, it’s a retirement home, but they have really nice shows with established artists (like Alden Mason) and I’m thrilled to be doing a show with Larry. I love his work and we’re friends.  His work has a primitive aesthetic while mine is more refined, but I think there are more similarities than differences in what we do.Obviously the curator, June Sekiguchi, thinks so, too.

This blog post was meant to be a quick update about what I’m working on in the studio but it’s been hijacked by everything else that’s going on in my mind. It’s a bit chaotic up there these days. I’m kind of longing for a big project that I can really get absorbed into, rather than trying to keep all of these balls in the air. But for now I’m keeping my hands busy with some small, one could say mini, projects.

While working on the piece for Minitextil, I mocked up three other designs. This week I’m working on finishing those. They are kind of precious but pleasing, like working on doll furniture. My challenge is to make sure they don’t get “cute,” a problem at this size. less than 8 inches. Below are photos of the piece I made for Lake Como.

So it’s off to the studio to make some stuff while I wait. Think I’ll do some juggling.