I am selling copies of my 2020 zine A VERY PURPLE GARDEN to raise money for Haven Watch MN, a group that is supporting those who were abducted and detained by ICE at the Whipple Building at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis. Upon release, many are left without the resources they need to get home. Haven Watch is helping to get them safe, warm, and back home.
I have 10 copies available on a sliding scale of $10-$50, including shipping. The first 10 people to DM me with the amount you want to give and your address will receive this guide to growing your own Prince Tribute Garden.
Want to support Haven Watch but you don’t want a zine? Go to my bio for a link to Haven Watch’s GoFundMe.
Be like Prince. Love on my Minnesotans and spread that purple love 💜💜💜
About halfway through my micro residency @bischoffinn in Tamaqua, PA. Focusing on quilting with fabrics I’ve been collecting and dyeing, including these I got from @theresourceexchange . So much planning, so much ironing, so much fun. Bonus: I saw my first proper snowfall of the year.
#fiberarts #quilters #bischoffinnresidency
Summer 0825
Wool, Silk, Velvet
I started this in July but because of hand issues, didn’t finish until now. I never make a plan for these books but looking at it finished, seems like the Roxborough radio towers may have been on my mind. Do you wanna touch? It’s very nice in the hands.
#bookarts #artistsbooks #fiberarts #tactilebooks #phillyartist #fiberbooks #fabricbooks
I just finished 11 weeks with @lauravhricko at @fleisherart all about plant dyes and surface design. It was so nice to have such a knowledgeable instructor in this ambitious class and I loved every minute. My final haul is equal to 4 yards of cotton and three cotton tea towels. Now to marinate on what comes next for all this.
Laura teaches lots of classes and workshops in and around Philly check her out if you want to get in on this fun.
Slides
1. Hand painted patterns using mordant pastes, citric acid paste, and soy milk. Dyed with madder root, avocado, cochineal, marigold, and iron.
2. Eco-Printing and bundle dyeing with onion skins, fig leaves, and all kinds of botanical and kitchen treasures. Shibori dyeing with madder root, cochineal, marigold, and iron.
3. Eco printing over my first eco print because I’m fussy.
4. Painting a tea towel with iron and aluminum mordant pastes. The aluminum picked up the yellows and reds while the iron picked up deep browns.
5. Using citric acid paste on conventionally mordanted fabric. The painted areas resist the dye creating a negative.
#fiberarts #naturaldye #naturaldyeing #plantdye #plantdyeing #patterns #ecoprinting #fleisherartmemorial #phillyartist
20 years ago TODAY my dad and I rolled into Philly with two cars packed to the brim. I moved here to make books and found the first place I ever felt like I belonged. I’ve done so many things the last two decades - became a teacher, befriended my mentors, became friends with former students, helped build institutions, watched beloved institutions fail, fallen in love, met most of my favoritest people, eaten all the hoagies and water ice, drank all the lager, and embraced this dirty town as my own. I honk my horn at a$$holes, double park my car, have opinions about cheesesteaks, go by the Rocky steps everyday, go down the shore, and my adorably long MN vowels are increasingly being replaced with a sharp and jagged Philly sound. I have a family, a home, a community, and no intention of leaving. This jawn is where I belong.
1. Baby Mandy in my grad school studio.
2. A normal night at McGlinchey’s with my besties.
3. Most of my cohort at one of our WIP shows.
4. Early days on the Heidelberg.
My classroom at @paperbookintensive is like a magic portal to a damp and colorful magic world. I am so excited to see so many talented people making incredible things from all these gorgeous towels. Nerds in the woods nerding out over nerdy stuff = heaven. Lucky lucky me 💗
@brickhousearts@olfactorygleanings@southernletterpress@matasillo@noreglets We have been gossiping about how awesome you all are and you are absolutely adored by many people here and we wish you could come play with us but instead we’re all out here prattling on about how much we love y’all ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
#bookarts #artists books #experimentalbookbinding #paperbookintensive2025 #paperbookintensive #oxbowschoolofart
I got a bunch of book artists dying fabric at @paperbookintensive and it is so fun! They invited me to teach and I made a new class creating tactile fiber-based books and I am in heaven. Getting to exist in a community of folks who have inspired me throughout my career, old friends, and new creative and brilliant folks is such a high honor and I am so grateful for making a crazy train and bringing all these people aboard. Stay tuned! Today we go from 2D to 3D 📖🩷
#bookarts #fiberarts #fabricbooks #paperbookintensive #paperbookintensive2025
I leveled up my crochet game this winter and made 5 sweaters, not all as great as this one, but I definitely learned a lot. Getting ready to teach fibers-based books @paperbookintensive in 2 weeks. Gonna bring some big sweater energy. #crochet #grannysquares #grannyhexagoncardigan
Some of the people I love most are in L.A., and I have always loved being there with them, eating amazing food, looking at awesome architecture, and being steeped in Hollywood lore from so many incredible movies I love. I documented this love affair in 2012 in this book I printed with @jacquesoffset at AS220. I tried to capture the uniqueness of the Hollywood Hills and the familiarity we all have with the place simply because we consume the film and entertainment that is created there.
“On my last visit I picked an orange from the tree growing next to my Uncle’s carport and hid it away in my luggage, a taste of utopia to enjoy back home.”
If you can, please find ways to support those who lost their homes, those who are fighting the fires (including the many incarcerated people and youth who are on the front lines), and all the citizens who are collecting supplies, sheltering humans and animals, and creating safe spaces for those who lost their homes. I love you Los Angeles 💔
Book and paper lovers - want to flirt with fibers? You can! Join me at @paperbookintensive 2025 to learn about all the experiments I’ve been doing the last few years, applying my bookbinding skills to my love of dyeing, sewing, knitting, embroidering, felting, and all the other skills I learned from my family matriarchs. If you came to books through a background in these traditionally domestic crafts, this workshop is for you!
Registration is open now! Hang out with me, @rebecca_print@shannaleinohandbuilt@kyle.a.clark and a bunch of other amazingly talented folks that I haven’t met yet but have definitely admired from afar. If you make it to PBI, I promise I will jump in the lagoon no matter how cold it is. See you there?
“Winter 0123”
Hand-dyed Wool, Velvet thread
#paperbookintensive #pbi #bookarts #artistsbooks #bookbinding #fiberarts #fiberbooks #tinyrevolutionarypress
2024 was a doozy. Depression was ever present as I watched people dehumanize others - through war, through capitalism, through greed, and for popularity (shoutout to @phillymayor for displacing hundreds of people in need living in encampments in Kensington AND voting in favor of the arena, displacing even more folks in Chinatown). How did I survive? These four amazing creatures - my partner and husband, Drew, and my besties Molly and Phu. They remind me that activism starts at home by practicing love and kindness. They remind me we are resilient, and we will survive with radical honesty and laughter (and snacks). And Murray, a literal hairball of love, helps me remember that love is unconditional and something we all deserve, regardless of our identities, our choices, or our challenges.
The new year has me reflecting on community and the amazing ones I have found and cultivated for myself - my book arts friends, my UArts friends, my neighbors, my siblings, my parents and my in-laws, my coven, and my former students. I am so lucky to know all you incredible love-filled humans and you are what gives me hope for 2025.
“We all do better when we all do better.” -Paul Wellstone
Keep taking care of yourselves, friends, and we’ll keep taking care of each other. We got this. 🫶🏻
