07/01/2026
On this day in 2020 I was putting the finishing touches on the largest headpiece I had ever made--a wall mounted install for the yet to be opened Jimmy Murphy. When JamNola hired me to curate the Costume Closet for the first Jam it was the before times, and I had no idea how much COVID would sabotage all my(our) plans for the space. I did the sketch of this piece in March 2020, still freshly into the new reality, in my backyard after a long conversation with my podmate Julianne Lagniappe. Julianne gave me the push I needed to believe that I could handle a project like this, as well as even bigger. When I finished the final rendering, colored pencils and markers scattered all over the table, I remember knowing it was going to be something special. I didn't know if I could pull it off. I didn't know if we would ever be able to leave the house again.
I came across this photo jog to the memory oddly enough on the day before I am about to begin making this exact piece all over again! I know my astrology pretty well, so this serendipitous moment tracks for this week, and I am really grateful for the alignment to appear so magically in this way.
This year I promised myself I would start telling more of the stories of my pieces. I usually document my process as I work. I get to work with so many pretty and weird things and it's fun to take pictures snd vids. Then I deliver a piece, and the dopamine fades, and I got really burned out running the social for my store all those years, and stories are so much easier, and what's the point anyways, blah blah blah. But I guess the point is that I have a promise to keep to myself for 2026, and the exciting opportunity to create one of my favorite most special pieces ever again. And I NEVER get to make the same thing twice!!! So I am excited to use this moment as a pathway to some deeper sharing and story telling about the work I have done and do. And to share what I will experience revisiting the process of this creation 6 years and many more "big" pieces later. So follow along if you want to. Ima try to do this! The social media thing I mean. The headpiece I got! 🥰
