The international organization for greener cities (The Nature of Cities at http://www.thenatureofcities.com) invited me to contribute an essay and images of my work for the online forum “What’s Next? – Learning from Nature during Lockdown. Here is the link: https://www.thenatureofcities.com/2020/09/30/whats-next-learning-from-nature-during-lockdown/

This photo shows the huge mulberry tree in my front yard that I have used for my hand papermaking art during the pandemic.

I was invited for this international forum as a result of being selected for an invited artist-in-residency project at Cour Commune (www.courcommune.org). My residency at Cour Commune in Voulx, is now planned for Spring 2021. I will post more information here soon about my residency in France next year.

I also wanted to let everyone know that my home and studio in Santa Rosa, CA, are okay for now. We are located in an evacuation warning zone for the current wildfires in Sonoma County that affected the northeast section of Santa Rosa. My family and I are all fine, and we are watching the news updates carefully and remain packed and ready to evacuate again if needed. The smoke and ash from the nearby fires make the air outside unsafe and hazardous, and we are staying indoors for now.

I am able to work indoors on art for my upcoming projects in November. My exhibition at Haus zur Glocke in Steckborn, Switzerland (www.hauszurglocke.ch) opens on November 25, 2020. I am creating a “Lake Constance Site Map” now with internet resources and a few things that artist friends in Switzerland, Germany and Austria have mailed to me here in California. Lake Constance is a large lake in Europe that lies between Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Here is a photo of my Lake Constance handmade paper artwork in progress:

I will post more about the exhibition at Haus zur Glocke and my “Lake Constance Site Map” soon. The exhibition at Haus ur Glocke titled “Labor-Natur” will feature artworks by 3 artists who use nature as a laboratory to create their art. I will be showing a selection of my handmade paper site maps that are created from plant materials collected at each site. The Lake Constance Site Map is the first one I have made remotely since I was not able to go to Switzerland this year because of the pandemic.

I will also be working in my Santa Rosa studio during October and November to create another “living quilt” installation for the City of Sacramento’s artist in residency program. I will be making some live Zoom programs to show how the handmade paper quilt with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp is designed and made. I will go to Sacramento for one week in November to install my art project “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth” at Sojourner Truth Community Garden in the Pocket-Greenhaven area of Sacramento, California.

This photo shows one square of the “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth”.

I am using the North Star quilt pattern to refer to how quilts may have been used to show escaping slaves the direction north to freedom. Sojourner Truth was a former slave and famous as a leader in the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements. Keep watching this Blog to see more about my public art project in Sacramento.

Wishing everyone good health and good air to breathe!