In Minnesota, we are incredibly lucky to have the MN State Arts Board grants funded by the Clean Water, Land, & Legacy amendment. I’m excited to announce I was awarded a MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant.

Now comes the hard part: executing my proposed project! I have this year to shoot a short experimental film about leisure as resistance. Here we go…

What a lovely surprise to return home from holiday travels to find my copy of Paperbark in the mail! This issue features two of my Survival Skills collages.

Paperbark is a print and electronic-based literary magazine, published annually, with a focus on the environmental humanities, sustainable living, and the promotion of literary and fine arts. Published through the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the magazine is a platform for conversations around the currents of contemporary culture through the lens of sustainability, with themes ranging from climate change, policy, and science, to the meaning of place and the value of creative expression.

Remember the past two regional events I organized? Teaching Social Practice Conference, October 2017 in Dartmouth MA, and 4D (Time) in Foundations Regional Event, February 2016 in Buckhannon WV.

I’m thinking about organizing a new one in June 2020 on how art/design instructors in higher education teach the concept of “place.” Again, it would be a free 1-afternoon conference-style event, and it would be located at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Currently, I’m surveying people to measure feedback on dates, interest, content, etc.

Please spread the word! I’ve targeted people in Minnesota and the surrounding region, but anyone is welcome.

Also, there are 3 travel stipends available for part-time instructors and/or grad students… read more at the link: https://forms.gle/4PpAmHvPttZ9fVs6A

I just received my copy of Work Book, a risograph magazine featuring 18 artists and collaborative teams, and a series of online artist features, whose work addresses labor, leisure and it’s cultural intersections with art production.

This is part of The Tool Book Project, which was conceived of in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election as a way to connect and provide a platform for artists, writers, and cultural producers, and to raise funds for social and environmental justice groups that are made vulnerable under this administration. Now, three years in, Work Book, the third volume of The Tool Book Project, considers the future of institutional critique, direct social action, how our daily labor and leisure intersect with the ways we relate, resist, and create, and what can we glean from revisiting past Art and Labor movements.

Featured Print Artists:  @jimarendt, @runawayaricoco, @kristina_bivona, @chinenaimi, #SusanBriante, #AshaCanalos + Jeanette Hart-Mann, #SarawutChutiwongpeti, @ginamgoico @katarinajerinic + @hotfruitcompote, @mattkushan, @gmangoni, @lanzetta_studio, @jaimesmayhew + @mx._minx, @ellenmmueller, @mr_revelle, @thestrycker, @chantal_zakari

Featured Online Artists: @parastooahovan, @angelopouloselaine, @mharthurs, @kyle_cottier, @craftsmanship_podcast + @hgsalmon, @elissaecker, @inmmezzure, @alexhammondstudio @pammohanson, @luli_la_la, @chriskojzar, @bridgetmoreenleslie, @decarlologan, @katrinamajkut, @stevemantinaos @gabriellemertz, @_shaynamiller, @adamniklewicz, @mitchknowa @david_packer_546, @asaintclair @janicesloane, @we_are_tanga, @aaronwilderart

Designed+ Edited by: @sarahgsharp

Work Book was printed by @txtbooks an artist-run independent publishing initiative in Brooklyn.
Work Book’s poster insert was designed by @ashacanalos and printed by @nicole.joseph.r Cover image by @mollydilworth

I’m looking forward to leading workshop at the February 2020 CAA Conference. We’ll be talking about how to craft a conference panel proposal. Anyone is welcome to join in the conversation happening Thursday, February 13, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM, at the Hilton Chicago, Salon C-8.

Each workshop will be limited to 35 participants. All workshops will be free and open to the public. Seats will be available on a walk-up basis onsite during the conference. There will be no pre-registration. Space will be set up classroom style (seats with tables).