algorithm-free art
When I named this newsletter ‘algorithm-free art’ I did not yet know how significant it would be. Meta has announced they are limiting accounts that post about “social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large," and my account has been under some kind of shadow ban the past few months (my posts have been muted and I’ve been steadily losing followers for the first time ever. I can’t know the reason with certainty, but it started when I began posting about Palestine).
These days, I think of this newsletter as the home of where I share my work, since Instagram is so unreliable. We’re a much smaller group here, and it feels refreshingly human-to-human. I read every email reply and comment you leave, and feel like I know you. I’m really glad you’re here. If you know of anyone else who might want to join us, please forward this email to them. I’d love to gather us all here in a safer place where we can connect and speak freely.
the art
I loved dandelions when I was a kid, and still remember the strange heartbreak and shame I felt when I learned they’re “weeds.”1
Now, a little clover is growing slowly in the pot of one our indoor trees. We don’t know where it came from, but we hope it feels welcome.
I made another piece on this theme a few weeks ago, which I’ve turned into a sticker for March patrons.
It’s a reflection on welcoming everything,
less control and more flourish,
a willingness where we might have an impulse to destroy,
beauty even in the discarded places.
looking carefully
The following is an excerpt from Easy Does It, our online community for creatives and creative-curious people. I share about my process, and offer tips and starting points for playful and satisfying ways to make your marks. Join us any time and gain access to the past three years of content!
Danielle and I are slowly making our way through Sarah Urist Green's You Are an Artist, and recently completed an art assignment modeled after the practice of Nina Katchadourian's marvelous Sorted Books Project. We were told to look at someone's book collection and pull out titles and stack them, making a found poem for books' owner. Danielle and I each made some stacks for each other. Here are a few of them:
Nina Katchadourian created a stack that is quoted in Green's book, which says, "what is art? / close observation." This stuck with both of us and bobbed along as a theme in our making and conversation this month. We must interact with the world in an inquisitive and welcoming way: eyes open, fists softened, willing to wait. Something will spark us if we do not rush along to the next thing.
This applies to the apple and the tire and the chip in the brick wall. We can also turn our attention to things with a life of their own, take note of their energy, their resistance, the parts that are growing and the parts that are dying. We can focus on quiet objects and listen carefully. We can collect up the leftover bits, sort them, notice how they crumble.
We can also turn that attention to the inner world. One way to begin to reconcile with overwhelming feelings is to observe them, finding a part in ourselves that can step back and see where the feeling is rooting in the body, where it wants to move to, and hear what it is saying. I think of much of my work as observational art in this way: read more.
community art
Did you know you and your friends can get together and make postcards to send to your reps calling for ceasefire and aid to Gaza? I’m grateful that my friend hosted one last weekend and invited me. Taking action and sharing stories about why this matters to us in real-life community felt so different than just posting online.
free art party
I’m giving away a bunch of art this month. You’re automatically entered by being here on the newsletter list. If you’d like to up your odds and boost my work a bit, there are a variety of other easy ways to enter here. Good luck and thank youuuu for sharing my art!
sending my love to you — I hope you have a wonderful weekend <3
brit
@at.nat.natural commented on this, saying “My botany book for class defines 'weed' as: a flower not admired for its beauty 🌼🌱” and that really feels like it gets to the heart of the matter. Another viewer had learned the term “spontaneous growers” instead of “weeds,” and another recommended the poem Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco. I love talking to you all.
Weeds are just plants like any other, I think we've just labelled the plants we don't like as "weeds" but oftentimes they are indigenous to the area. I remember hearing about clover yards and how they are actually better, more drought resistant and require less watering then the grass we use that is not native in places like Texas (where I'm from).
Love the post card event! I should really try to host something similar in my area as I know there are several moms in my neighborhood that have a hard time making it to protests with their kids.
Love this! And I love your companion weed. I’m a horticulturist and my favorite definition is “a plant out of place.” And wow, when I think of it that way it feels much less rigid because it’s all about perspective anyway