Acts of Unselfing

eau claire, minneapolis, and prints!

Dear reader,

I visited Eau Claire (WI) after 7 years, as a Writer-in-Residence and (Sneaky) Artist at the Eaux Claires Music & Literary Festival. It was a unique cocktail of ideas - some exploding in song under the summer sun, others unfolding softly under the shade of trees.

(We lived in Eau Claire for ~3 years, and I took my first steps as a Serious Artist here - registering as a business, selling my first prints at the local farmer’s market, taking my first commissions from my first clients, drawing in all the cafes.)

Walking about downtown Eau Claire

Sign outside Carson Park, the venue for the festival

Sun, crowds, cheese curds

The best way to think about good words

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If you were at the Festival, say hello in the comments? Also:

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I spoke about balancing words and images in my work. Obviously, I drew while talking.

Drawing with USk Chippewa Falls

Book event at Wet Paint in Minneapolis, before my flight back home.

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A big thank-you to everyone that dropped by the SneakyArt Studio event last Friday. It was a joy to share my work, ideas, words, and much fun to see you play with the block-prints.

This is my first time having a full studio space to myself, and I have no experience setting it up. But I am working on figuring it all out - lighting, framing, theming, seating, music, etc. I am crafting a Sneaky Art Experience^TM, and I am excited to share progress with you.

If you visit Vancouver, or live in town, reach out if you would like to drop by.

This month's Open Studio

And if you were there on Friday, and are now reading this newsletter too, yay! But also say hello in the comments?

The title of today’s post comes from Maria Popova, of The Marginalian - Death and How to Be More Alive: Carl Jung on Immortality and the Rebirth of Middle Age Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Message. In this chapter, he visits Dakar (Senegal) for the first time, and thinks about what it means to be on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean as an African-American person.

(Sorry for this error, I was reading both on the same train journey home and my brain mixed them up. Thanks to reader Peace Keenen for pointing it out!)

In The Marginalian by Maria Popova

Reader, late-stage capitalism breeds narcissism, and consumer-culture teaches us to objectify ourselves. We are victims of a cult of self-optimization.

But the job of drawing is the business of paying attention to the world. The more I look outside of myself, the more happiness I find within myself. This is an interconnectedness too.

“Every act of unselfing is a salve for suffering, a way of being reborn.” - Maria Popova.

✍🏼 [You were not supposed to Cure your Imposter Syndrome] “I no longer believe in the idea that we can or must solve ourselves in order to achieve the highest rewards of our lives…”

✍🏼 [Prison Break] “The best kind of prison, argues philosopher Byung Chul Han, is one to which people voluntarily sign up…”

🖼️ [15 Aug] A few seats still left in my workshop in Edmonds (WA)

💌 [SneakyArt Zine Club] I am sending monthly zines to paying subscribers of this newsletter. Join the list!

Last month’s zine was a workbook for people watching!

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