June in Review

poetry, collage, and sweat

At the start of every month, I try to remember what I did in the last 30-ish days. I squint, I scroll, I sniff the air like maybe memory leaves a scent. But the memory always comes back in a hoodie, vaguely shaped, no face, slightly damp. A month is a cloud. No, it’s that smudge on your glasses you keep trying to wipe off but it’s on the inside. A mirage wrapped in fog.

So, what happened in June? Many things? Good things. And more good things, because nothing seems bad when you stack it up against true terror. I tried to be wise, or at least decent, and mostly ended up sweaty. I messed up with such flair, it was almost conceptual art. You ever spiral so hard it looks choreographed?

I like to believe that all of it is a kind of education. Or at least a rehearsal. For what, I’m not sure.

Art helped. It gave me something to look at that wasn’t myself. Poetry, especially.

From Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón

And Collage. This month I played a lot with textures and scraps and shapes, in preparation for the class I led on July 1st.

Today’s Artist to Know is Lauren Sharples. An amazing illustrator and printmaker whose work you can find here. Enjoy the interview.

From Laurens’ Instagram