This incredible Mama and her two magical children drove from Iowa to meet me at the River tonight. I cried on the drive home because their bond was beyond words, and I feel so lucky to have witnessed a love like this. Here is a preview. I cannot wait to share more.
Last night was magical. Here’s proof.
Also, life is so short and fragile and if there’s one thing I could make you promise me, it’s that you will pay attention to what matters most.
When I was a high school photography teacher, I’d joke and say the kids should get foreign language credit for my class. After this year, I realize I wasn’t joking at all.
The articulation of things that language cannot touch is something I have missed, entirely.
Photos as poems
Photos as evidence
Photos as a cry out in prayer
piercing through the noise
of endless pandemic earthquakes,
cracking everyone’s world in half
again and again
just as we finish the last stitches
holding it all together.
My camera has always been the only way to weaponize my fierce hope in an acceptable way.
I miss being covered in mud and river, night after night, the moon witness to magic.
(Thank, you Chali. I love you so much and am so grateful for our friendship.)
I’ve been with Artifact Uprising since the very beginning. My love for them feels like family.
I am so honored to be featured in this essay. And of course, any way to share more of Glenda with the world is a win.
I think it’s important to show where we begin. So, this is my very first pottery collection that I offered up for sale. After making ceramics on my own for almost 2 decades (that look different from these), I decided to, in the middle of a pandemic, add a little bit of light to world with clay. As an artist who has been making a living on my art for half of my lifetime, I know that I won’t always be proud of these. That someday I will look back and think, “Yikes.” Because that’s just part of the evolutionary process of handing art over to the world - the first go is the seed stage, not the blooming garden. And still, here they are. Because there is so much beauty in the beginning. All the courage tied up in these little golden-rimmed bowls, is immeasurable.
