Finding Joy in December: Embrace Creativity Amidst Chaos
December has always felt like a whirlwind to me—a time filled with holiday gatherings, year-end commitments, and the sense that there’s always just one more thing to do. For years, my approach was to push through, head down, determined to handle it all. But I’ve realized that this often left …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter-Creating in Tough Times
In my last newsletter, I told you about a series of work that I called my “Accidental Protest” series that I began in January of 2017. It wasn’t planned—I hadn’t set out to create “serious” pieces with strong social justice messages outside of my Victims Quilt Project. But as the …
Read More
Arlington Open Studios – November 9th
It’s that time of year again! Arlington Open Studios has arrived just in time to begin your holiday shopping so why not support a local artist with your gift-buying budget this year? DATE: Saturday, November 9th TIME: 11 AM – 5 PM LOCATIONS: Town Hall on Mass Ave in Arlington, …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Art and Politics
Politics. Don’t stop reading! I promise this newsletter will not veer into policy debates or end with a fundraising request. Instead, I am thinking this month about the ways politics and elections have often inspired creativity. Our current Presidential election is certainly inspiring some impressive TikTok videos, but long before …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Burnout
I’ve been writing a lot on LinkedIn lately about burnout. It’s something that I have dealt with twice in my working life and it seems rampant these days. You may not spend your days in a 9-to-5 job, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experience burnout. What is burnout? The …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Create Your Identity
Nearly a decade ago, I went through an identity crisis. At the time, I decided that I would make myself a quilt for my birthday using 40 pieces of cherished purple batiks.. I also decided that I would make it represent me in some way, other than just having the …
Read More
How Have You Failed Today?
I went to a conference last week where the keynote speaker was Dr. Sarah Lewis, Harvard professor and author of The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery. In her talk, she shared that the parents of Sarah Blakely, billionaire CEO and founder of Spanx, asked …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Creativity and Leadership
I have written a lot in these newsletters about my creativity journey and about how to reignite your creativity and keep it burning brightly. I’ve written about how rediscovering my creativity was my path to uncovering my authentic voice. What I haven’t written about here, but have started talking about …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Happy Spring!
I’ve written before about the Seasons of Creativity (which don’t necessarily line up with the actual seasons). There’s the Summer of Productivity where your creative fire is burning brightly and you are just churning out work. Next comes the Fall when things start to mellow a bit and settle into …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Make Time for Creativity
One of the biggest struggles that I have is in making time for my creative work. I have it last on my to-do list and either I crawl into bed having not made it to the end of the list or I am so exhausted at the end of the …
Read More