WI State Journal article about Communication

A pretty cool article came out a few days ago online and comes out tomorrow in the physical @wistatejournal about my home away from home @communicationmadison.

It's such a great summary of our space and I'm glad to see that Gayle Worland touched on so many of the things we chatted about and that a range of voices are presented here beside my own.

Link to the article here.

Thanks also to Amber for these awesome photos you can swipe to see a few here.

Can you tell I'm passionate about Communication and the communities we continue to serve 💓

Femmestival 2022

Gratitude post:

Femmestival at Garver Feed Mill last Sunday was a non- binary , trans and femme celebration full of tasty food, color and pizzazz.🎉🌈

We had a @communicationmadison booth run by our very dedicated and colorful volunteers ( many also artists with us). Thanks to @culinaryladiescollective @garverevents, @visual_edible_audible, @francescahongwi for having us!! Thanks to @cycropia_aerial_dance for the amazing living sculpture performances!

Garver continues to be so supportive of Communication and of artists and musicians in general. Madison is lucky to have this incredible space so soaked in history, community, local businesses and art!!

Big love to all the vendors, purveyors, volunteers and more who came to celebrate with us! ❤️❤️❤️

Print & Resist

TOMORROW!!
11-4pm at Madison Central Library
Print & Resist
Shop zines, prints and other goodies from local & regional artists, publishers and collectors

I have been just very barely involved with organizing this event but my main role is bringing Communication artists to you.

Tonight I set- up our table. This is a sneak peek at all the awesome at the Communication table including the criss cross blue tape that I hope sticks!! Stop by my stories where I'm posting more sneak peeks& progress shots ( my brand new giclee was too heavy with the backer board to stay up with blue tape)

For the first time ever since I stepped up to manage the shop I won't be behind the table during the event because we have an amazing volunteer coordinator!!


So you know what I'll be doing tomorrow?!!
Enjoying Print & Resist as a shopper!!

Y'all so much love and care went into this behind the scenes. If you see Carlee, Jennie, Lesley, Laura, Lance, Fawsy or Olivia around give them air fives, they are an amazing organized crew 🙌✨💓

Communication's Garver Feed Mill Pop up

Shout out to all of the amazing artists and volunteers helping to make the Communication pop up- Call and Response exhibition possible at Garver Canvas inside Garver Feed Mill

We ( speaking on behalf of Communication) are so pleased to have overlap with the Dane County Farmers Market It's been such a great fit to share Garver with a variety of food producers, local businesses and our greater community ❤️❤️❤️

We have seen amazing, really amazing support in the past few weeks and it makes part of my job, writing checks to artists, so darn fulfilling! I actually shriek high-pitched squeals of delight when I see the variety of work we've been selling. So thank you ❤️

I don't normally push my work, but if you are totally in love with the series currently up at Overture Center you can find 12"x12" giclee prints of the series here at the pop up 🌊

This week we are closed for an event on Saturday but you can stop by Thursday 12-6pm, Friday 12-8pm and Sunday 12-4pm so there is time to get a little something for a loved one or to treat yourself 😉

Past installation of Into the Deep

In September-October of 2020 I exhibited these pieces at ​​​​​​​​Communication Madison
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We were ( and still are) in the midst of a global pandemic so when I made plans to show this series Into the Deep for the first time I found myself asking what do I want people to take away from this series and how can this work best serve people under collective trauma in a way that is safe?​​​​​​​​
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The answers then and now haven't changed all that much. ​​​​​​​​
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This series depicts how we handle trauma and fear or how we can learn more from the darkness to find ways to reconnect the pieces of ourselves. Put more simply, this series is a primer on becoming whole which is a process that never has a definitive end, it's a never-ending cycle.
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The series remains a virtual exhibition on my website with additional information, 3D views of how the gallery was arranged, with video featuring alternate views of the pieces elements that mimic bioluminescence. ​​​​​​​​
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This photo shows " Detachment" and " Discovery" under only UV light so the only visible details illustrate the ways fish and other deep sea creatures create their own light.​​​​​​​​
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If you feel comfortable doing so can view these pieces currently at Overture Center for the arts @overturegalleries on the second floor and explore the bioluminescence with UV flashlights under regular lighting so you can see all the details.​​​​​​​​
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I don't have all the answers and this series is still underway but I do hope that this series can serve as a reminder that we all go through these times. We may not have the power to control certain outcomes but we get to decide how we react and how we create our own light like all of those amazing creatures of the deep sea.

Communication and 1st large Winter Market

As all artists start sharing artists vs art squares I want to take a moment to reflect on the work the collective of Communication does on behalf of other artists, musicians and community organizations via mutual aid. We exist to create safe space for creative people to thrive and connect with community.

For over a year I have taken on a role to run the Communication shop.

This is a full-time volunteer job that I do because Communication works toward a reality that didn't exist when I was first trying to navigate the art world. To carry a torch to light multiple pathways of being is a difficult thing to do alone.... I'm so glad to have found a team with big hearts, able to hold safe space for community. Everything we do, we do with such care and intention, it's a dream.

In the past year we've grown alongside our community and it's just so amazing that despite a pandemic, despite being 48th state in arts spending, despite what many people say about Madisonians not buying art that our organization persists in part because people in our community ( and all over the US) buy art from our shop.

If we were to draw a line to each person / org that has interacted with us in some capacity you could visually see how interconnected, tightly knit and expansive the community of Communication is.

This weekend Communication hosts the biggest market we've ever done.

If you feel comfortable shopping in person I invite you to stop by Eastside Winter Market at Garver Feed Mill on Saturday and Sunday 12-7pm.

If you stop by find me and say hello. I'll be wearing one of 2 pink lanyards ( Jennie Bastian has the other one 😊️) that say event organizer 👋

Thanks to everyone involved ( long list) in helping Communication and this market exist. So proud of us.

Communication / community work

Time to share about the Communication Shop

Sometimes it isn't about what community can do for you it's about how you can support community.

Since my work has been focusing more and more on how we connect with nature it's important to show how that can be reflected in how people connect with each other. As always nature is my guide.

Helping artists connect with community and working to make community art programs sustainable is a reciprocal model, they feed each other endlessly. It's in our best interest to create and support strong, diverse communities that use art to connect.

I have been managing the online shop/ in person shop along with a dedicated team of volunteers since August 2020 and it's been so great to see it grow, to do this work, not for capitalism, not for personal gain but to support community growth and the arts.

This year Communication is hosting our first in person Winter Market at Garver Feed Mill instead of our small cozy space. It's a lot of hours, communication, organization and sweat but it will be worth it to see the artists, the small businesses, the community all sharing a larger space and thriving together.

I hope you can stop by and see what we're cultivating at the Eastside Winter Market Dec 11 and 12 12-7pm
Tone benefit concert Saturday Dec 11 at 8pm
Mask are required for entry

I'll be there like the whole weekend 😉

Image Description: A collective of shelves in the Communication shop hold an array of colorful art I'm a range of styles.

Wellnest #3

Tonight is the opening reception of the Symbiosis exhibition at Communication in Madison

To celebrate showing my most recent woodcut alongside other amazing shop artists I dropped some limited edition risograph Wellnest prints in the shop 🎉

2 different nests only 13- 11"x8.5" prints available in the shop so get them while they last

All sorts of color backgrounds available.

See you tonight. I'll be wearing a bird dress 🐦