It’s been about a year since I last posted, and over that time, three significant shifts have reshaped my creative life.

Last fall, after ten fulfilling years in a co-op gallery I helped to found in Bear River, we made the difficult decision to close its doors. Letting go of Bear River Artworks Gallery was bittersweet — a goodbye to a community space, shared energy, and the experience of seeing my work alongside others’. But it also opened up personal room for quiet, for personal expansion, and for a different kind of creative exploration.

Then came winter, and with it, an unexpected stretch of illness — first shingles, then Covid. Both forced me to slow down, to listen more closely to my body, and to let go of any expectations, schedules or illusions of control. I watched the shifting winter light across my bedroom wall, and slowly an idea unfurled. I needed to realign my creativity, to expand it. I needed to rethink my studio activities and space.

I spent weeks in my head, rearranging my studio. What began as a practical response to shifting circumstances became something more meaningful — a quiet recognition that I am not the same artist I was a year ago. Part of my recovery was to sit in the studio and visualize a new layout and organization. The space I’ve created now feels like a reflection of that: a place to write, to experiment, and to allow the next phase of my work to emerge. I’ll tell you more about this in my next post.

I share this here because I know many of you, too, are living through seasons of change — creative, personal, or otherwise. I’m reminded that creativity doesn’t just live in the big, finished pieces we show the world, but also in the quiet ways we adapt, heal, and prepare the ground for what’s next.

Thank you for being here, reading along. I’d love to hear how this past year has shaped your own creative life. What have you had to let go of? What have you rearranged — inside or out — to make space for what’s coming next?