The summer whizzed by, with two trips to New York, one to the Northwest, and a recent visit to Chicago. The first trip to New York was for the opening of Regenerative Infrastructures at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. My return trip on August 22 was for a presentation at the gallery–a reading of my essay from the Regenerative Infrastructures catalog accompanied by a slideshow. The slides ran independently and were designed to be suggestive rather than informational. On both trips, I had the pleasure of visiting NYC museums and the High Line with Elizabeth Monoian (LAGI). Some highlights were the James Turrell exhibition at the Guggenheim,  The Civil War and American Art at the Met, and the Museum of the American Indian which featured a suite of compelling contemporary Native American prints from Crow Shadow Press.

My northwest sojourn was comprised of inspiring studio visits with Ann Leda, starting off at Vashon Island. We traveled first to visit Jo Hockenhull in Salem, OR where we spent a few glorious days making prints in her studio (which inspired me to buy a press — see the LOCUS page above). Then on to Joan Stuart Ross’ studio in Nachotta–a gorgeous spot on the Washington coast, where Ann and I indulged in making encaustics. I was less pleased with my results than my print (left), but I learned how to layer with wax! On returning to Vashon, I spent my last day and evening with art historian Susan Platt and her architectural historian husband Henry. Susan and I were joined by Barbara Bruch, my old studio mate, for a tour of Buster Simpson‘s retrospective at the Frye Museum, followed by a great barbequed chicken dinner in Susan and Henry’s enchanting garden.

My last trip of the season was to Chicago to visit with Joel Greenberg, author and instigator of Project Passenger Pigeon, who was a fantastic tour guide. Day 1: Passenger Pigeon dioramas and mounts at the Field Museum; Day 2: field trips to an old growth beech forest where the pigeons nested, a field where they were shot, and some birding nearby; Day 3: a site visit to Brushwood at Ryerson Woods where Steffi and I will have our exhibition next May.

Fall season to dos: Teaching one class–American Art History at AiP; working on Moving Targets with Steffi, getting the press up and running, producing a few LOCUS events, writing at least one grant (for MT), continuing with my botanical illustration including a History of Botanical Illustration course at Phipps, several maintenance and organizing projects, and the list goes on…! Oh, yes, and my continued involvement in Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace.

Happy Fall–Celebrate the wondrous bounty of the earth!