June 2021:
For the summer of 2021, I released a serial newsletter. These chapters are a combination studio visit, a dip into history, and a diary of sorts that I released in a series of six chapters throughout the summer. I wanted to share the things I’ve been making in the studio, some things I've learned about why I am making this work, and perhaps open up further conversations.
The subject revolves around leisure...but before you dismiss it, I want to tell you that there is so much more to this area of study than golf, caftans or suburban pool parties. My research has led me to learn about Southern California boosterism, naked practices, gourmet bathing in Los Angeles (you heard me right), the field of leisure justice and that the 1935 Panama international Exposition in my hometown of San Diego had a nudist colony on display as an attraction. (!)
I have been looking at all of this in terms of its relation to my role as a figurative painter, a woman, and as someone born and raised in Southern California, and it has been feeding my work in the studio in generative and exciting ways. I hope these chapters will open up larger conversations for us around representation, bodily autonomy, access and exclusion, and that it will be a reminder to make time for your leisure.
