get-out-crotch

I’m a month belated getting this post up, but I was one of the copy editors on Get Out of My Crotch!, published by Cherry Bomb Books on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade January 22, 2013. Here’s the back story on the book: “Tired of hearing about legislation based on menstrual cycles, publisher Kim Wyatt sounded a call for essays about women’s rights and reproductive health in 2012. A shocking snapshot emerged of regressive policies, the erosion of basic human rights, and the culture that allows this to happen. Get Out of My Crotch! is an attempt to remind, to remember, and to continue the fight for equal rights.”

The book’s 21 writers (of all classes, professions—medical and non, races, and religions) examine reproductive rights, access to health care, and violence against women through first-person essays. A great, educational read, and I was honored to edit such big names in the writing biz as Roxane Gay, Katha Pollitt, and Sari Botton.

My latest block print design is the outline of Lake Tahoe filled with a Christmas sweater pattern. I drew it all by hand, and carved it on a linoleum block. I printed the green trees separately from a free carve quick-cut on Speedball EasyCut rubber. Due to the detail in the design, this takes much longer to print successfully, but I love the result! Pick this design up in postcard form at Riverside Studios in downtown Truckee.

Came across this gratitude tree in Calistoga last weekend. Such a beautiful concept: you take one of the provided tags of colored paper, write what you’re thankful for, and tie it with a string on one of the branches. I celebrated Annalise’s life in that moment and am happy to know a token of my thankfulness for her friendship is flapping in the wine country breeze right now. It was a grey, rainy day, but as I tied her name on the branches a beam of sun peaked through the clouds.

My latest column for Moonshine Ink, “Art Is a Highway,” has a roadside theme as I came across quite a few cool projects that use the road as an audience, impetus or way of existence: The Nevada Museum of Art is showing a vintage neon sign exhibit, Sierra Nevada College recently purchased a Streamline trailer that’s functioning as a mobile gallery space, and San Francisco artist Jane Kim is working on a series of Highway 395 murals (part one of her Migrating Mural) to raise awareness about big horn sheep migration routes.

Buffalo neon sign photo courtesy the collection of Will Durham