Wait, you went to Africa?!

To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure I was going to be able to do it. Coming up on the year anniversary of my bike accident this month, there were many physical and mental deterrents that were weighing on my decision making. This past year I’ve felt my fair share of challenges in not only my physical abilities, but also in my mental states with fear & anxiety. Surely getting hit by a car is not great for anyone, let alone someone who regularly experiences generalized anxiety, but that’s a different substack article. I share here to bring some reality + context into how meaningful being able to ride bikes in Africa meant this summer.

It truly took the support of my closest people, especially , to help me find my courage to go do something BIG again. For myself, my body, and my creative spirit, the red dirt of the Kenyan roads and immersing myself into a truly wild nature has helped me beyond what even words can explain. Through all my own doubts and worries, I’m so grateful I actually did it. I flew across the globe to ride bikes and experience a world unlike my own. Over three hundred miles on my bike, I was grateful for the time/space to connect back with my body and in turn my creativity.

You see, I feel riding bikes is actually rocket fuel for creative thinking. My own creative process has always involved some sort of physical movement - riding bikes, snowboarding – moving is essential to how I think and in turn, create. It’s not just me either, there’s tons of research in why these physical states help our cognitive ones.

One of my favorite designers, , also advocates for the power biking has on her creativity (and I couldn’t agree more).

“Part of the reason I love cycling is it brings me more joy and relief from stress than anything in my life and it really is like my mental health reset. Cycling is so integral to my own sense of self-care.”

- Bikes Made Lisa Congdon a Better Artist

- Cycling to Creative Spaces with Lisa Congdon - Girls Gone Gravel

Cycling across Kenya was truly a special way of connecting and exploring these new landscapes. When you ride a bike somewhere, you get to take in a whole new view of the places and people. Each day was filled with new adventures and laughs - drawing as much as I could in my Field Notes Journals and journaling every night the people and memories I wanted to remember. The process of biking each day supported the groove we all found ourselves in this new life, separated from anything “normal” from our daily schedules.

This trip, most importantly, was bigger than biking. This adventure was about connecting with the real communities we were biking through. Zawadisha, a non-profit organization impacting the lives of rural Kenyan women for over a decade, was the real purpose for traveling here. I’ll never forget riding my bike into the Zawadisha headquarters to be greeted with songs and so many hugs - even though I insisted that I was disgusting - they didn’t care. They were excited to share with us their lives, weaving, dancing, and sharing meals together.

Excitedly, I was given the opportunity to teach Printmaking with the women’s group. An experience unlike any teaching I’ve had before.

*Before, I designed this new graphic for Zawadisha, which Jen had created into Kula Cloths for everyone on the trip. Seeing them attached to everyone’s bikes while we rode was such a delight.

Donate to Zawadisha Here!

My studio practice since getting back home has felt so vibrant. Not only am I feeling stoked about my body able to do this trip, I’m reflecting on the confidence it’s bringing me back to my creative flow. While I still have ideas to play around with, I wanted to document and share all of the creative connections and artwork I captured during my trip.

Here are a few drawings I brought back with me,

Obviously some journal pages,

I finally splurged on a new camera for the studio - this FujiFilm X-Half is everything I wanted in a new digital camera. I love playing around as an amateur photographer,

Don’t worry, I still bring my Papershoot Camera everywhere with me too.

This foremost is a love letter to and Coalition Snow – in 2018 she gave a young artist a gig live-painting a snowboard during one of her many connection-filled grand ideas. From there came a creative portfolio spanning years; eight original snowboard + ski topsheet designs, three artist-collaborated skis, six live drawings, one epic photoshoot, cat-skiing the Sierras, a trip to Japan, and countless merch artworks from stickers to hoodies. As I look back on the years, I’m grateful for all the growth creatively. Creating for Coalition Snow has given me such a space to expand in experience in both skills and concepts — more importantly, it also added so many new friendships and unforgettable experiences in finding a riding community. As I went through the archives, I couldn’t help but smile at all of the images gathered for this collection.

As Coalition Snow officially announces its closure this month, I’m happy to report that my “loss of creative director role” turned into a “hiring for more creative ideas”. And because of my work at Coalition Snow (2018-2026), I feel even more prepared for what lies ahead.

CREATIVE PORTFOLIO: Coalition Snow, 2018-2026.

Seeing these works in a timeline and combining all the sketches, projects, ideas, the connections filled me with so much joy. Over time, reflecting back on the connections between life and art-making add so much more to the design process. To celebrate the closing of Coalition Snow, here’s my visual diary behind the designs of what goes into creativity and snowboarding.

Finally, my snowboard designs – my dreams come true. The first board I ever designed was Coalition’s Split board, the Sojourner (21/22 Winter). These boards are my current go-to for backcountry and big powder days, and were once my first big creative design with Coalition Snow’s OG creative director, Lauren Bello Okerman | folklaurstudio.com. In these sketches, I’m trying to mimic flow and balance in the physical function of the split board and in the visual material. This board I experimented with watercolor flowers and digital line work & it really lighted my fire for board design work.

Around this time I was also experimenting with work in Coalition Snow’s SISU magazine. This visual collage is one of my favorite projects and continues to influence my visual thinking still.

Next up, the Myth 23/24 was my sophomore board. This design I had so much fun taking my watercolor textures and digital line work into my plein air drawings and shapes. In this board, I really aimed for visually showcasing the place.

After those two boards, I got promoted to full lineup. The learning I did with those two definitely helped me connect to all the designs and collaborations for the 2024/25 line. Here’s the full behind the designs for this project.

This winter, I brought to life the visuals for the first annual Shred the Patriarchy Day hosted by Coalition Snow.

I’m so incredibly proud of the work and community Coalition Snow has created over the past years. When I see more representation in the snow sports industry, I know our work has progressed women, non-binary, and folks marginalized in this space (that was the whole goal to begin with). In our final team call, I cried so many happy tears hearing everyone’s personal stories about how this company helped them each feel a little more seen on the mountain of dude soup. To take up space, to shred hard, and to support each other even more - that’s what these skis and boards did for us all. When I was growing up snowboarding, I didn’t see many role models that looked like me — because Coalition Snow lead the charge, it doesn’t have to be that way.

PS - Get a board/ski while they last!

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Last Saturday, standing in front of my TV glued to figure skating, I kept whispering to myself “this is art class”. I also couldn’t help but notice how many times the announcers called the athletes “artists” and looking at the judging criteria, I agreed that Technique, Composition, and Artistic Skill are exactly what art educators’ project rubrics look like.

I’ve personally never reached any skill on ice skates, but hot dang do I get absolutely enthralled every four years when the Olympics put winter sports front and center for sixteen days (especially ice dance). Growing up and still today a lover of all winter activities, these are my SPORTS. Watching this year, I began to draw even more connections to just how much creativity these games influence.

First, let’s begin at the Opening Ceremonies. When I say CULTURE, what better creative visuals do we get from the runway show of each country’s outfits?! Haiti’s hand painted (first ever in Olympic history) uniforms are inspired by Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié’s painting Toussaint Louverture, 2006 depicting Toussaint Louverture (a Haitian revolutionary) riding a red horse. Designer Stella Jean utilized creative skill however in working around the Olympic rules that say political figures are not allowed.

One of my favorite snowboarders, Zoi Sadowski‑Synnott, led the New Zealand team & wore a traditional kākahu (cloak) around her shoulders. I’d totally wear the Kiwi team’s all-black uniforms that also for the first time were designed in Aotearoa (Māori name for New Zealand) by the New Zealand apparel company, Kathmandu.

I could write an entire dissertation on just the outfits and how we can learn so much about each country through fashion, but there are still MORE creative connections from the games I want to share. So my final fashion shoutout goes to the Milan country escorts in silver puffy dresses, who absolutely SLAYED. I mean, it is Milan after all.

A tradition in my household is to have an opening ceremony meal inspired by the host country. Eating my pasta, I continued to be in awe at the visual celebration of ART in the opening ceremony with floating primary color tubes of paint and models in Armani suits lined up in Italia’s national colors. My favorite cultural nod however, was actually including the 70’s gibberish hit - “Prisencolinensinainciusol” by Adriano Celentano. This pop song is meant to represent what American English sounds like to people who do not understand English, and it’s actually pretty catchy.

What makes this art educator most stoked about watching winter sports is that you are actually witnessing flow state in real time. When athletes describe “being in the zone” often after their events, they are describing what psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi coined as Flow.

This overlap between athletics and art is where I initially began my curiosity into art education. As the intersection of skill and challenge draws interesting parallels in how students not only learn their own art making in art class, but also in the training and practice in a sport. Flow State is not the end goal of a final artwork or winning a downhill slalom race, but rather it is the joy. The experience of matching one’s skills to meet a challenge is the enjoyment both artists and athletes alike take in their respected processes. Why the Olympics is so great however, is because we get to spectate these athletes “finding their flow” on the world stage. It’s rather hard to see that in action in an artists’ studio.

Csíkszentmihályi described six factors as encompassing an experience of flow;

1. Intense Focus

2. Merging of action and awareness

3. A loss of reflective self-consciousness

4. A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity

5. A distortion of temporal experience, as one’s subjective experience of time is altered

6. Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience

Further, flow state researchers continue to point out this “effortless control” that emanates from high level flow. Enter back into the conversation - figure skating. When listening to the Olympic announcers reflecting on the scoring you’ll often hear how much the judges are looking for that effortlessness to a performance. Physically all of the athletes who qualify to represent their countries have the skill and expertise to compete. What the Olympic stage brings is the optimal challenge and high motivation to reach that flow state in executing a routine/race/big air trick with the ease one performs at in an experience of flow.

Like each of the athlete’s first try at their sport to make it onto the podium, artists in art class can learn from Olympians in achieving their goals creatively as well. What lies in between are the hours and hours of training/practice/heartache/coaching it takes to be “the world’s best”. So as you watch your favorite sport this weekend, pay attention to the language and performances these Olympians are putting on for each of us. Then when you go to your studio, music stand, kitchen, or however you like to express yourself creatively, consider how you too will find that effortlessness and flow yourself.

Extended Creative Connections:

My friends & brilliant creatives Iz La Motte and Sara Beam Robbins newest work “Qualified” on Peacock and NBC celebrating the incredible women athletes on the US Ski Team — watch here.

writing tiny songs for each sport.

(read more about Flow)

The disclaimer in my story here is, I’ve never actually followed a “strict” journaling protocol as some may expect. Books like The Artist’s Way and challenges like Inktober & 100 Day Project all provide great inspirations for anyone to engage in a creative process. I’ve always brushed them off, stubbornly just leaning into my daily “no rules” approach to journaling.

However, when I began reading ‘s The Book of Alchemy this past spring, I was in low creative spirits and needing a creative boost. My knee surgery rehab over the 24-25 winter was impacting many creative connections to my process. In order to compromise with myself, I decided I would turn to the chapters/journaling prompts when needed versus every-day. It first started as a mindful connection in a jam-packed summer schedule of writing, biking, and getting back into my full-swing creative practice. The past few months it’s been much more, my own creative crutch.

At around the 50-chapter mark, my journaling practice took an unexpected turn when I fractured my hip in a hit-and-run bike accident. Needing emergency surgery, my physical body became consumed by pain and time for recovery. My creative body was also needed for this type of healing. Journaling to distract, process, reflect, continued to be instrumental in all challenges in this creative life. A lesson I had just strengthened through knee rehab.

The Book of Alchemy is organized by various themes, and in creative magic lined up eerily well with my grieving and healing process as I continued with my pre-accident goal of finishing the book by the Winter Solstice.

The Winter Solstice is one of my favorite celebrations to turn inward, journal, and welcome light back in. In a creative practice, especially through visual journaling, I look forward to reflecting with my stack of the year in review.

Here’s my visual review of The Book of Alchemy, when flipping through the pages this week in my studio, these were ones that stood out with each chapter group.

On Beginning // APRIL

4 | BE SLOW by Rachel Schwartzmann (p. 19)

On Memory // MAY

16 | ENCAPSULATING EMPHEMERA by Jenny Boully (p. 47)

17 | COLLECTING PLACES by Stephanie Danler (p. 50)

On Fear // MAY

30 | IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME by Noor Tagouri

JUNE // SUMMER SOLSTICE with 🙂

On Seeing // JULY

On Love // AUGUST

On the Body // SEPTEMBER

58 | A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A RIGHT FOOT by Natasha Yglesias

SEPTEMBER // FALL EQUINOX

On Rebuilding // OCTOBER

78 | THE BADDER THE BETTER by Adrienne Raphel

On Ego // DECEMBER

80 | SIMPLIFY bY Barbara Becker

In process . . .

On Purpose

On Alchemy

(Okay, I’m a little behind on my original goal, but I’m so close. I’m giving myself through the end of the year so I can really soak up these prompts.)

The Winter Solstice comes tomorrow, Sunday December 21st. A yearly pause I look forward to each year in my creative life ebb & flow. Finishing the last journal entries in The Book of Alchemy on purpose and alchemy are all too cosmic as I find myself in a transition of before accident // after accident. Combined with the Solstice connections to renewal and reflection, “a time for introspection, celebrating survival through winter’s darkness, and setting intentions for new beginnings as light returns” I’m embracing light.

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling stuck, sad, frustrated, big human feelings - a little art making, writing, or doodling in your journal can help you reset. Creative acts remind us that each day we have an opportunity to create the world we want to live in.

I’m not saying you have to journal 100-days, but I can say it was helpful. The Book of Alchemy reminds all of its readers that our creative magic lies in what we can do, even if just a little bit here and there.

As the Solstice approaches, I’ve been preparing in a few creative ways to guide in a new time of lighter days.

1. Have you noticed your shadow being extra long or the sunsets being top-notch bangers lately? Take a pic of them! It has to do with our Tilt away from the sun, the angle at which the sun is hitting the Earth. That’s super dope.

2. One of my favorite traditions for the Solstice is to complete 108 Sun Salutations. I’ve completed this every winter for almost ten years now. It’s a physical and mental cleanse, helping to release old patterns, fears, and self-doubt, ushering in new perspectives, especially during solstices or equinoxes. Mostly for me, it’s the Mind-Body Connection of a moving meditation that helps anchor my mind – a welcomed break during a busy time!

3. Making soup and having friends over! How will you celebrate the Winter Solstice this year? Check out this online article all about the historical and cultural celebrations of the Solstice.

visual journal prompt:

(Writing) Make a list of things that fuel your creative light. How can you welcome more of that light into your daily routines?

(Drawing) Shadows are extra right now. In Corita Kent’s Learning By Heart she describes an exercise where you just try to capture a shadow for a week. I recommend drawing from life, but snapping a photo to draw your shadow from is just fine!

Lastly, it’s the Slu-Brugh family holiday card. #BobsBurgersForever

Happy Winter Solstice to YOU - see you again in the new year!

Good morning, happy Friday, and most importantly - Happy Halloween! October is an annual time where I like my creative practice to focus on the time to celebrate in traditions and enjoy the last bits of fall in Denver. I’m wishing you all sorts of creative shenanigans this weekend!

Halloween is our most creative holiday. Every year as a professor of creativity and spooky season enthusiast, I’m excited to support that thesis even further. The lore, images, and cultural impact of Halloween can be studied indefinitely through a creative lens, who doesn’t love that?

This past week, I was extra stoked listening to some of my favorite authors/creatives and chat on Substack live on The Art of Messing Around. The title alone had me tuned in, I am well-versed in putzing around. Along with many connections to creativity, Austin Kleon shared this awesome bit of wisdom - The creative spirit is not just something you have, it’s something you enter into.

He shared, “This is something I wrote about in my letter, “entering into the spirit”:

“For artists, we get to play at Halloween all year. That veil between the material and the immaterial stays razor thin. Every day, we get to step into our costumes, don our masks, perform our rituals, and enter into the spirit.

But to do so, we must surrender our need to be good. And show up and surrender it over and over again. Day after day, keeping the channel open, getting out of our own way.”

The silliness and connection to the creative spirit Kleon shares in ritual is a great way to think about your own connections to Halloween.

Do you find yourself more playful this time of year?

How do cultural traditions aid our creativity?

Each Fall, I like to accept Halloween’s invitation to get weird with friends. Costumes, front yard decor, craft projects, hosting pumpkin parties - all playful rituals I like to partake in preparation for All Hallows Eve. It’s because entering the Halloween spirit feels like what Kleon describes as the Creative spirit. Daily practices of visual journaling, lighting a candle, drinking coffee, laughing to Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, are parts of my putzing protocol. Rituals in finding creative flow in my own studio practice. I’m also having lots of tricks and treats with loved ones, creativity thriving in the daily parts of seasonal embrace.

Friday Visual Journal Connect: Write about your most creative Halloween memory. Perhaps it’s a costume, a fun party, or even a spooky tale. How would you like to connect to your creative practice this Halloween?

I guess I now have an annual list of spooky creative connections. This year with my bike accident, I got super curious about bones. Skeletons have always been some of my favorite Halloween decor, from the front-porch bones to my disco back yard skelly, the symbol of the skeleton takes many visual representations during this season.

Creatively, it’s interesting to look at how various times historically and culturally have influenced the image and meaning of skeletal representations. This curiosity like usual lead me to some really cool creative connections, here are some of my favorites.

• Kind of obsessed with this wood engraving print, Calavera of the Cyclists by José Guadalupe Posada, (1889 – 1895) Lots of great skeleton fine art thought in this article, Themes in Art - Skeletons.

  

• The word bonfire is from “bone fire”, which comes from an ancient Celt tradition of burning animal bones to ward off evil spirits. Fun article I learned that from!

• My favorite character in Ray Bradbury’s children’s book The Halloween Tree, Tom Skeleton! One of his opening lines, “Lucky! he thought. What a name you got! Tom Skeleton. Great for Halloween! Everyone calls you Skeleton! So what do you wear?” Bones.”

• Skeletons had a major pop culture moment in 1929 with the release of Walt Disney’s cartoon short The Skeleton Dance. It made skeletons silly, and I like that.

• I have been very delighted by folks creating elaborate skeleton scenes in their yards. This one of “Happy Gilmore” in my neighborhood made me chuckle,

• Here’s an article with some more ideas too.

• A Spooky Neon Skeleton drawing assignment by the “Cozy Art Teacher”

The first dot on the left is the date of my accident - Aug. 25, the last dot is Tuesday, Sept. 30. What this peak, to valley, to build back up you’re seeing is what my OURA smart ring rated my resilience levels. Dropping from Solid to Limited, my lowest yet.

But I didn’t need to see the score, I knew I was empty. It feels sort of a normal response to being hit by a car. There have been plenty of cries in that valley, anger and bargaining included. Plus, the reality of physical demands on energy were making any sort of writing or creating little to impossible.

Weeks where writing or even getting out my journal felt out of reach.

Going a few days without drawing, however, really does a number on my mental health. Thankfully, I had creative substance from close friends and family. Every care package, home-cooked meal, game, coffee treat, text, and letters from others reminded me most of creative joy. Each of them art creative acts in care.

Gradually, all of the positive love and support from my humans held me through the flat line and onto more lightness.

I also want to credit my bf John for making me truly giggle for the upswing in my resilience. He made an only-your-best-friend-can-make-this-funny joke that had us morbidly laughing. He and his boyfriend, along with my sister-bff Meghan, surprised me in Denver, booking a flight for the weekend from Chicago. I cried when they left, old friendship knows exactly how to comfort you.

Before they knocked on the door, I was pretty down in the dumps about missing this year’s final ROAM Fest and the sadness of my aching and limited body.

Lately my days have felt rather regimented. On one side, there’s medicine schedules, daily movement goals, meticulous observation of pain, and muscle re-learning. There’s also been extended Lucy cuddles, morning readings with coffee, and daily gratitude for love. It’s both the hard and the soft. A place where my journal becomes a necessary tool in the messiness of the process.

Harvest, Fall Equinox, Halloween, cool air - however you feel it, it’s hard to argue this time of the year isn’t little more fun and creative. I’ve shared my connections the past few years as proof.

Creatively, I am really excited for this new month. I’m filling it with art shows, PT, resting, and soaking in all the creative energy with friends. Like most Octobers, I take an extended pause from social media/screens, this one’s no different.

So here’s my breakdown of where and when to find me this month.

First, I’m so stoked to see friends and share cool art at Girl Winter in Denver!

I also have my FIRST artist collaboration FLOW STATE | 8oz Candle available exclusively with Coalition Snow this winter. This drawing, Flow State, represents the creative process and celebration of the 25-26 winter art collaboration. These candles are hand-poured in Denver, CO by Wooly Wax - an epic women-led candle shop in my neighborhood.

Lastly some good celebrations,

liked my post (!!)

Folks keep donating to my dear friend ’s GoFundMe and that’s awesome.

Jen Gurecki Go Fund Me Link

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Of course, Keen set up my new pumpkins to celebrate the start of October.

Intense physical pain creates a serious hold on your presence, taking most of my creative energy making even journaling a struggle. My Oura Ring stats are obvious reminders.

I am absolutely silly when understanding my own energy management and feelings - writing about it my journal helps me connect back to myself. Some days the journal entry is just a few words and others full of color and lines — a tool and reflection of my inner world.

The truth is, I’m very much grieving the sudden loss of missed events, ability, and blow to my physical strength. This is something I learned from my knee recovery journal though, I need to feel sad. It’s just as important to healing my creative process as my own grief process. My journal is a place where I feel comfortable being sad. It helps me feel the sh*t and similarly see my gratitude.

A helpful journaling habit I had already started pre-accident has really helped me find a path back to feeling creative in pain. This habit was daily reading and completing ’s The Book of Alchemy. I’m currently on day 53/100 and my approach has always been as close to daily as I can. Sometimes this is consistent and also, sometimes super sporadic. Either way, it helps me get started in my journaling practice, no matter my energy levels.

The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad

A newsletter for people seeking to transform life's interruptions into creative grist

As a journaler myself, I’ve been in awe and celebration of Suleika’s vulnerability and perseverance to pick up your journal, even on dark days. The Book of Alchemy has been so helpful to me that I’ve since shared it with my dear friend , who is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Every time someone donates to her Go Fund Me, I also feel a little better.

Donate to Jen Gurecki Go Fund Me here!

Being tuned into creative connections continues to prove a beneficial life skill, in that I can find something joyful even when I want to throw up from the pain of sitting up. These include watching birds, feeling sun on my face, being loved by my Bernese Mountain Dogs (Keenan and Lucy), admiring the careful way my friend shredded the chicken in her enchiladas, and more. If you haven’t downloaded the Merlin Bird App, I suggest you do immediately. My morning routine includes listening to the backyard birds & adding to my “life list” makes me feel like I’m playing real-life Pokemon. It also brought a smile to my face to read ’s recent Substack about her own hip-surgery recovery.

“Honestly, I thought I’d be back to my old tricks within a week. Just like I think I can still pull all-nighters and drink red wine. Silly WendyMac.

Thankfully, I have an incredible community of wiser-than-I friends and family who have stepped up in every conceivable way: meals, visits, errands, phone calls, flowers, movie suggestions, etc. I feel like the luckiest human, truly. And also, I had no idea how little control I would have over this recovery. The time, the energy, the discomfort, the blurring of days/nights. The inability to shower. Even ice cream won’t speed it up. The hip takes the time it takes.”

Agreed, Silly Slu.

I am taking each day a little at a time. My rest and focus on healing (mind and body) I’m working on giving into. I’m moving slow and taking peptides (Keenan has been referring to them as my Wolverine pills, which does help).

Similarly too, what a community of friends and family I have. My gratitude journaling practice has been filled with all of coffee dates, dinners, texts, FaceTimes, playlists, cards, support and more. I have some of the best friends and family a girl could ask for. I feel so loved, it definitely helps me on the days I do and don’t feel like art-making.

Creativity is in our connections always, friendships and care inspire creative healing.

Here are some of my recent celebrations.

Like the Friends of Friends Art Opening in Crested Butte, Colorado on Friday, September 5th. An actual example of how important friendship is in a creative practice, I was deeply reminded by all of the friend support in getting my work delivered and set-up when I couldn’t make the travel.

I cannot recommend this playlist by my friend Ashley enough, Spicy with a side of sad. A true creative way of feeling your feelings is screaming I’m Just a Kid by Simple Plan. You may want to give it a listen too for your research.

Still finding writing inspiration in my Lady Parts take over Artist Features!

Lady Parts

Behind the Designs - Creative Director A.Slusarski / artists, artworks & inspirations for winter 25-26

Lady-Parts Takeover! Welcome to a five-series deep dive into the creative process and artists behind this year’s Coalition Snow 25-26 winter ski and board designs. Featuring creative director Andrea Slusarski, sharing insights into the collaborations and creations that make designing your favorite topsheet designs…

Read more

a year ago · 5 likes · andrea slusarski

Watching and very much enjoying Netflix Wednesday - Season Two!'

I’m going to still share my positive summer connections and further journaling practice below, reminding myself I can get through the pain and the suffering. Along with a creative practice to carry me through, I also have SO MANY incredible friends and family rushing to my support. For now, my focus will turn back to healing and figuring this all out again, happy to be here. - slu

It’s been a big knee year for our family. Between my right knee repair last August and Lucy’s (our Bernese Mountain Dog) new back set, the joke around here has been Keen’s bitches got fresh knees.

One year post-surgery and I continue to lean into my gratitude practice. Turns out, being forced to not move for 10+ weeks means your “already steady journaling practice” sort of gets turned into super-mode. I’m even more convinced of the magical powers visual journaling and art-making have for our minds and bodies. As they became necessary moments I used in healing this past year. Writing, making, and reflecting are critical tools in periods of challenge and change. Support in the form of mental and physical therapies are also crucial – shoutout Jamie & Matt.

My silver lining, however, meant my typical “winter shredbatical” was rescheduled to summer for 2025 – a seasonal break I haven’t had since I taught high school. These past few weeks have been full of filling my bucket, journaling, and connecting with my body. This included more bike rides, seeing friends, nature and rest. All fuel for moving forward with creative ideas. Each day I get to move my body actively and without pain is a big blessing, as just a year ago I was being told to immobilize post knee surgery.

The following is a creative collection of my summer highlights.

How are you connecting creatively these days?

I’ve been frequenting The Book of Alchemy by throughout the summer. I’m not much of a “you must everyday” - but I do enjoys motivations like reading a quick chapter to make a journaling practice flow quicker. I’m currently just past my 50th day & I’ve also given this book to some important friends. It’s a great collection into the power of journaling.

I’m heading back to campus this week and kicking off a full-throttle Fall. So I can’t promise the frequency of this Substack, but September and October are booked and there’s lots of fun art/creativity opportunities waiting there! Keep scrolling to find ways to connect & follow what I’ll be up too these next few months.

I’m taking over the Coalition Snow - Lady Parts Newsletter, sharing an in-depth look at this year’s art and inspiration through November. Make sure you subscribe here.

Lady Parts

A newsletter for people who love to get dirty

By Coalition Snow

Make sure you catch my latest podcast while you’re there too!

Lady Parts

When Looks Do Matter

Welcome to the latest episode of the Lady Parts podcast, where I’m shifting gears from founders who manufacture to artists who create. In this episode, I’m chatting with my dear friend Andrea Slusarski, who you might know from IG as Drawing from Nature…

Listen now

a year ago · 3 likes · Jen Gurecki and andrea slusarski

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

SEPT:

• Art Show in Crested Butte, opening on Friday Sept. 5th. Details here.

• I’m leading a creative workshop for preservice art teachers at the first ever CPAEC Conference at Colorado State University.

• I’m presenting / leading a journal workshop at ROAM Fest!

OCT:

• October 14th - Coalition Snow Art Pop Up after Girl Winter film fest. Denver, CO!

Upcoming sneak peaks at work, tell me what you think in the comments:

These are not the messages you want to be drafting/sending. For many layered reasons, creating a GoFundMe to help your dear friend through breast cancer is a shit-sandwich – but here we are. If you’re reading this, you’re most likely one of the many human-beings impacted by the tenacity, wit and general bad-assery of Jen Gurecki. Late this summer, Jen was diagnosed with breast cancer and was immediately scheduled for a round of chemotherapy through the end of 2025.

Personally, the even potential of this scenario had me concerned for my friend. Years of snowboarding, travels, giggles in the van — you don’t expect disruptions to your quarterly hangs quite like this one. It’s hard to believe we just recorded this before knowing the Fall would begin to look very different.

Lady Parts

When Looks Do Matter

Welcome to the latest episode of the Lady Parts podcast, where I’m shifting gears from founders who manufacture to artists who create. In this episode, I’m chatting with my dear friend Andrea Slusarski, who you might know from IG as Drawing from Nature…

Listen now

a year ago · 3 likes · Jen Gurecki and andrea slusarski

While she’s still at the beginning of this challenge, the bills are already coming in – a side of shit-chips if you will. She now needs our (financial) help more than ever. Our intention behind this GoFundMe is to build as much support from our collective networks as possible, to lend over to Jen this season. Jen has given us so much over the years; any support you can provide will be greatly appreciated. For her birthday today, maybe put a little bit in there to say hey you got this Gurecki.

GoFundMe Donate Here

For over a decade, Jen Gurecki has been carving the path for women in snow sports and beyond. Coalition Snow celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2025, challenging the status quo in ski sports – Coalition has FOUR Blister Review awards this 2025/26 season already. Her non-profit Zawadisha, a micro-lending program in Kenya, has been going strong for nearly 15 years, and she’s helped thousands of rural women radically improve their lives. She also leads cross-country bike adventures for groups each summer, proving she knows how to be the most disgusting version of herself. For those closest to Jen, we know the energy and purpose she’s brought to all of her work. In action, principle, and connection, Jen Gurecki has championed women. And yet, we live in this shit-scape lacking universal healthcare & systems that work for people. Which is why we’re turning to our community for help. Thank you and your support of Jen, she’s so got this!

GoFundMe donations will go towards Jen’s medical and care living costs – even helping Jen and Kel with dinner for a night would make a massive impact as Jen focuses her energy on beating cancer.

Jen will writing more in depth about this experience in her Substack, you can follow along here (and SUBSCRIBE) here: redefiningradical.substack.com

Thank you for helping me support and share the awesomeness of Jen. We’ve worked really hard together on the upcoming 25-26 winter line up. Thankfully, I was already scheduled to take over Lady Parts, Coalition Snow’s newsletter. Subscribe below to follow along this Fall (September - November) posts and creative connections in this winter’s visual artworks and featured artists.

Lady Parts

A newsletter for people who love to get dirty

By Coalition Snow

The title of Corita’s essay is The Artist as Social Activist amid Adversity: How the Job is Done, in it she shares,

“Art is one of the means amid adversity of reestablishing the connection. A picture may be a symbol for the whole if we look at it as a small cosmos.”

She then proceeds to look at art as “everything is in a satisfactory relationship with everything else” - she looks at artwork and sees “all the colors and all the shapes supporting each other, loving, and complementing each other.” What a big idea hidden in art analysis, that is of course what art teachers help us do.

Corita lived, created, and taught in periods of intense civil rights movements, protests of war, and nuclear threat. It’s much like 2025. She also knew that art and art-making was a solution to many of the social justice threats she herself faced. Like most art teachers, the art room becomes a way to transcend space - a place where there’s an escape from the world. This is what happens when we immerse ourselves into creativity. Corita paired text and color to make strong statements about her world and the ways in which she wanted to make it better, and in my opinion more like an art classroom for every student. As an art teacher, it’s really hard to not find joyful moments abound when working with students and their creativity.

Corita also knew that through visual works powerful messages could be conveyed to greater audiences. When I look at some of her works, I almost see her sharing a teaching lesson with us through her choice of color and text alone.

“Workpower calls on our shared strength to uphold peace and tend to our communities with care.” - @coritaartcenter

…

Still today the Corita Art Center carries on her spirit with this free downloadable poster. “In the spirit of love, hope, and justice, use this poster to champion change wherever you might be: carry it to a demonstration, display it in your window, or share via social media!”

LINK HERE FOR FREE POSTER

You can bet I’m printing and hanging all over my classrooms and my own studio space.

Given the many challenges and hardships I know so many students are facing, I can’t help but want to double-down on my art teaching. Art making and thinking helps give my students and myself a place to process, connect, and find joy. Something we perhaps could all use a little more of right now.

• Art Teachers help us get lost in a new art medium or technique. Give a kid art supplies, it’s epic. A Sharpie marker to a High Schooler? The coolest.

• Art Teachers create spaces for experimentation and play - effective processes for finding one’s own creativity.

• Art Teachers foster relationships, a love and care that help fuel creative thinking and connection.

• Art Teachers give us all permission to be ourselves and have fun.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the many challenges impacting our world today, a little art-making can help. Instead of jumping on the anxiety spiral, creating can help reverse the downward pull. Doodling in your sketchbook won’t stop genocide or stop war, but it will prepare your soul for the real creative work needed in designing new communities and ways of living for all of us.

Essential Questions:

Who was your favorite art teacher?

Who or what is your current art teacher?

visual journal exercise:

(Writing Prompt) Free write about what kind of #artteacherenergy you’d like a little more of in your life?

(Drawing Prompt) Make a list of (5) awesome things from your week. Now, make them into little doodles!

What a joy it also happens to be on a Friday, when this publishes at Denver’s sunrise I’ll be hopping on my bike to go meet a dear friend for coffee, where we also plan on shouting praises at the sun. Screaming into the sky is a habit of ours, but on the longest day of the year this celebration of the sunshine feels extra appropriate.

You see, I had planned on writing more this week for the Solstice, but then I got a new bike and took it out immediately for a sunset cruise.

Then, when I could have been journaling more in the morning sunrises, I found myself just standing in the backyard watching the sunflowers starting to bloom.

I also wanted to create more in my studio this week, taking advantage of the extra hours of daylight, but was called to auntie duty and getting burgers with a nine year old was far more important.

There have been plenty of times in my life when not checking my “to-do” list would send me into an anxious spiral. However, the more I practice, study, and live creatively, the more I’m aware that all of these moments are just as valuable to my creative process. A reminder of this came recently from my close friend’s dad, who tries to catch the sunrise and sunset everyday - an amazing practice in paying attention to the magic that happens everyday.

In many folklore traditions, the solstice or midsummer is thought of as a time when magic is its strongest. To me, magic is creativity. Even without an end product like a polished writing or framed work of art, the enchantment rather exists in the process. All of the sunsets, sunflowers, and special moments that build up the energy of the artist to eventually create the work.

PS - Make sure to check out my creative pal ’ Isles of Curiosity and Wonder Midsummer Creative Retreat - an imaginary creative retreat to harness your own solstice magic.

A decade of assessing and giving feedback to art students’ about their work and growth makes me feel super tuned to when creatives make important leaps. When I think of my best teacher/artist-self, I hear Corita’s words “Enthusiasms of the teacher flow into the class–a sharing takes place and rich ideas are sparked. We are each other’s sources.” When you’re an art teacher, you can’t help but just be incredibly excited when you see Art happening. That’s what it feels like when you get to witness someones’ own creative process connecting. Enthusiasm, or I feel that celebration, is how creative joy makes us feel, cry, dance, and connect with one another. That’s what LVDY did at the Bluebird theater last night.

As an art teacher, I’ve had many experiences seeing a creative outburst in ideas, techniques, and confidence. All very important parts in engaging with your own creativity. Drinking my coffee and journaling, I’m overwhelmed with the magical connections shared by my dear friends Aubrey and Kathleen of lvdymusic.com | https://www.instagram.com/lvdy.music/

LVDY’s performance last night, accompanied by a heart-filling list of friends and talented local musicians and singers, was next-level. Band, Choir, Guest Appearances, this only comes from a deep creative practice, one I think LVDY does extremely well in their work as artists. Those of us fortunate to be in the Bluebird theater audience on Friday the 13th night got to sway to to their new release fleeting, groove to just the lvdies covering MGMT’s Electric Feel (a personal favorite), feel gratitude for each other with Thank You, and dance it out to Blood Runs Deep. AND those are just my highlights, the beauty of a LVDY show is everyone is invited to find their own creative connections. That’s powerful art.

Here’s a list of Professor Slu proud creative moments.

1. The sound and balanced organization of the set list last night made me wish I had a record recording of it, much like Joni Mitchell’s Miles of Isles (Live at Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA, 8/14-17, 1974). Until then, I made a Spotify playlist. Included original cover versions + looking forward to all the new music!

2. The BLUE outfits, no notes. Everyone looked fabulous.

3. Show posters I’m very proud we got to create together!

4. Shout out to the opener mistermoon | https://www.instagram.com/ily.mistermoon/ My heart grew when LVDY invited them to come out & sing with them, it’s a really special moment for creatives and honestly a great reason to see live music. This song of their’s is quite creative & fun,

GRATITUDE PHOTOGRAPHY:

I have been finding that one of my favorite gratitude exercises is taking vintage digital photos on a small point and shoot camera. Part of the process for me, is not seeing the images until the following morning, or more importantly in my studio. Looking back on my quick pics fills me with immense joy, a kick start into art-making.

It’s one of my favorite holidays of the year. An honored tradition and creative inspiration of just how a little extra sunshine these spring days feels like an old friend. Pals who you text “thinking of you” or neighbors you leave doorstop flowers - May is like the one-finger wave from your steering wheel, it feels midwesternly warm.

For friends near, I like to drop a little tulip gift on their porches. What a sneaky and fun creative act, a great way to say “hey summer”. Also, if we’re not flower-bombing our friends, why are we alive?!

Like every May 1st, I’ll wake up & clip a few tulips into jars. Followed by a quick walk around the street & corner set up (below) - I’ll plop these little joys around the ‘hood.

For friends far, I like to think of them when I’m playing with materials in my studio and see where my connections lead too. This is the stamp I created with students this past term.

A Learning by Heart assignment that makes printmaking easily accessible to new learners + it’s fun to do. When a lesson plan is like that, it’s a keeper.

creative exercise: stamp play

You need a linoleum cutting tool like this, simple pink erasers, and an ink pad. The material of the pink eraser is super smooth to cut & having a small space to work with really gets students thinking creatively.

steps:

1. Trace your pink eraser multiple times in your visual journal. Make quick sketches of what you’d like to carve for your stamp. Friend reminder, with relief printing it will print backwards, so if you have words you’ll have to mirror your carving.

2. Once you decide on a final design, sketch it onto your pink eraser. [Check out all of these examples] Make sure you know which parts you will want to remove and which to keep! Read more about the artists here.

3. Carve! [Here’s a technique video if you’re not an art teacher]

4. Ink and repeat in your visual journal.

I’m very much inspired by the tulips each season, as each year it feels like our front yard explodes in all sorts of wonderful colors. My studio experiments had me starting with this stamp from class & creating multiple flower fields.

Next, I chopped them all up to play with them in a paper quilt of some sorts - it’s just playing around. I’m looking forward to sending all of these cards out to close pals - a good chunk of them born in May specifically.

Which continued into these digital files,

This was a playful way to play around with both my analog and digital skills. I also am thankful I have a bunch of fresh cards now. Connections from process and need - something both original and effective.

I hope this May Day, you’ll play around with stamps for creative inspirations if you have the tools. If not, maybe make a beautiful bouquet of your front yard flowers (dandelions included) to leave on the stoop of a neighborhood homie.

Either way, these small creative acts are important to the collective of creativity. Little smiles that help all of us connect to our creative light. That connection feels like my studio flow is energized. Longer days, more bikes rides, and mornings spent journaling in the sunshine are all huge proponents of my creative thinking — add some homemade floral arrangements and art making makes May Day a perfect time to celebrate with creativity.

p.s. I’m going to see Tina Fey and Amy Poehler tonight at Red Rocks !!! Seriously cannot believe it. Laughing with friends is pretty top on my list and like Amy Poehler says, “I just want us to have fun.” If you haven’t listened to her new podcast GOOD HANG yet, I highly recommend you do.

Here’s the photo she sent me. What she apparently wrote down when asking her mom the same question when she was 35.

What's missing are the mini-marshmallows, which I’d agree is a unique creative solution. So while the green color and list of simple ingredients can be off putting to folks not from the Midwest, this dish is something I’ve always scooped up (right next to a plate of mostly mashed potatoes). It reminds me of my home and family back in Illinois. Deep reflections often providing the sparks (connections) for creative ideas.

This nostalgia was the creative connection and inspiration for my newest Coalition Snow 25-26 Snowboard Design, titled “Grandma’s Special” and what I’ve been nicknaming the shapes business.

Creative sparks or “AHA” moments are described in Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s five step method in the creative process as the Insight Phase. When these happen, the best advice is to “write it down as soon as you can in as much detail as possible” (Olson, 2021). Which is why I insist on keeping a journal close by. These magical feeling times as a creative are when paying attention, creative thinking, and heart go into a work. To me as an artist, these are my favorite works of art.

So you betcha I made this primo side for this year’s Colorado celebrations.

For your visual journal:

What’s a recipe you connect with?

Reflect on a dish specific to your environments. How do you connect with it?

Maybe even make it yourself and share with someone new!

I love how springtime invites an invigoration of one’s creative energy. Sunshine, complementary colors & more bikes rides have been exponentially boosting studio morale over here this week.

Like parking “my hog” on campus with all the Harleys.

These K.Haring stamps for friends -

My floral arrangements from our front yard tulip garden.

Plus a new K.Haring rug we put in our living room that I am obsessed with.

A week has already gone by, but my heart is still at Boot Tan Fest 2025. What started as a fun idea by my dear friend Jenny Verrochi five years ago officially stamped itself as a yearly pilgrimage of collective feminine joy that continues to grow with each year. It’s honestly taken me all week and many journaling pages to fully embrace all the radical connections this year’s festival sparked. These articles by the Denver Post - Skiing naked is the ultimate form of female empowerment at this Colorado festival and the Sopris Sun - The Future is Boot Tan Fest do a much better job with their words highlighting the importance of sharing this space with everyone. The Sopris Sun even included a Professor Slu shoutout,

“Days later, while attempting to wrangle the words that encapsulated my first BTF experience, I recalled some wisdom from Professor Slu, art educator and guide for BTF’s journaling session: during reflective practice, channel gratitude. I am grateful to connect with a place where everyone — cis, trans and queer — is safe and seen, for playfulness and deep belly laughs and the flow of intentional community.”

Just being a woman and a gender queer human historically has faced many challenges, living in our present-day is no different. With a world actively against each of the bodies joyfully laughing in the sunshine, my friend ’s comment “Boot Tan made everything in this chaotic world feel right for a moment. What an absolute gift.” rings truer than ever. In a magical transportation, we were all safe to be our most silly and creative selves. Being in community and supporting and embracing each other l is exactly what BTF founder Jenny expressed as the biggest gift of BTF, “It’s not about trends or popularity. Glitter is currency. Kindness is cool. There are no cliques, no cool kids table—just friends. Trans, non-binary folks, and people of color are centered, not sidelined. Older women are honored. Younger women are lifted up. Everyone belongs. We don’t compete. We rise together.”

From true fun to the power of friendships there are many themes that thrive out of Boot Tan. Even after a rowdy night of dancing under the full moon, I’m always surprised at the amount of folks who wake up to have coffee and journal with me – taking that final moment before packing up and heading back into the world to solidify the experience we all just had with each other. Joined by my friend Kathleen Hooper of LVDY, we led our morning group in creative action through drawing and singing along with each other.

It’s my favorite classroom of the year. This year’s theme was True Fun, the concept from author Catherine Price’s book The Power of Fun. I exclaimed how true fun was in essence what we felt with Boot Tan Fest. Following the equation True Fun = Connection + Playfulness + Flow, I asked everyone to reflect on what their personal connections were to the various elements of True Fun. I surely saw and felt Playfulness in the laughter, outfits, and variety show. Connection in the rich friendships and teamwork that it takes to plan and put on an event like BTF. Then lastly, Flow by dancing all night and drawing that morning. Following the writing/reflecting prompt, I encouraged everyone to join me in a simple line drawing, reminding them that drawing is for everyone – not those who are just “good” at it. At the end of our workshop I asked everyone to show their drawings to a neighbor, one final giggle to connect with each other. A reminder that the lessons and feelings felt in that moment & all of the moments the previous day back to their own pockets of community. Perhaps they’re inspired to reach out to a friend or maybe it helped them overcome any personal hurdles– whatever it is, each person’s own creative light shined just a little bit brighter.

In my own journaling when I got home, I couldn’t help but come back to all the many connections and how they continue to fuel creativity. This is what I feel my art teacher self is meant to observe and share, a main goal of even this newsletter to celebrate these various connections. Here are some of my top creative connections from Boot Tan 2025 & if you’re around next April I hope you can make it to Colorado to join as well!

1. My friend and amazing photographer Kersten Vasey Bowers made a triumphant return to her creative practice post baby.

2. Gaining a new friend MT (@heavy.charms) and being super jealous of the tattoo they drew on my other pal Schlag (@_schlag_)

3. Shoutout to this amazing group of morning journal participants.

4. How cute my Field Notes journals go with morning BuckWild Coffee

5. DJ Harmony (Kathleen Hooper from LVDY) throwing down an amazing Friday night set. My body is still sore from dancing.

6. All of the new friendships & connections that came from this day!

   

BONUS Connection: Days later I was listening to Amy Poehler’s new podcast Good Hang (it’s quickly becoming my favorite) and was publicly crying during this episode where her and Kathryn Hahn are talking about their female friendships. What Boot Tan Fest has connected to me most powerfully this year is how special it is when we get to be silly with our friends.

Corita reminded me of a few lessons this week when she wrote,

Art teachers are so fortunate here. Our enthusiasms include visual art, materials, pop culture, research - all things that make me stoked. This week my students and I ordered (2) Dominos pizzas and then gave it a “creativity score” (its art class, everything's made up). It received an average of 6.125/10 scale. Top creative connections, it has had some creative marketing campaigns, like actually filling pot holes in cities to also being the creator of the modern pizza-box. Check out this story, Scott's Pizza Chronicles: A Brief History of the Pizza Box for more. However, it was accessed lower because it’s just a basic pizza.

It’s fun being an art teacher. This lunch evaluation was after a beautiful morning spent at my colleague Raven in the Glade’s presentation and gallery show. My students were in awe with the connections they each made with the work in documenting and creating work to connect with transformation in creative self and identity. When enthusiasms happen, rich ideas are sparked.

It’s hard for me to really pick what my favorite image (created or documented by the artist) shared in the presentation. However, I know for fact that if I were to come across the many Earthworks pieces in nature I would be very delighted. Documentation of the various solstices with sunlight and shadows was also a big highlight for me creatively.

Snapshot of classroom visual journals,

In a 1988 edited collection of women’s chapters titled the Sacred Dimensions of Women’s Experience, Corita shares a short but powerful message in the Section 1 / Women’s Creativity. I read it often as a guide through tumultuous waters, as her words still ring very true in addressing the controversies our society is facing in education, human rights, and environmental protections. Corita’s work throughout the ‘60s, became increasingly political and a commitment to social justice. She was not immune to the adversity of her time, but in this chapter she tells us that “from my long training I have been taught not to talk about my adversity” (1988, p. 37).

She continues, “I think we have to have the awareness we lose connection with the whole, with the cosmos. Art is one of the means amid adversity of reestablishing the connection” (1988, p. 37). Time spent mastering a craft, a part of the learning process, or (insert your creative connection) is not wasted, because it’s the light we each bring to our environments.

Connecting to creative sources myself, I had some more fun imagining & drawing a scene I thought of with my creative pal . Us, having the most fun having fika with our top source material artists, Tove Jansson and Corita Kent. Loved imaging this scene after reading Anna’s Substack titled Tove Jansson's Paradise. Both creatives had lessons to reverberate lifelong lessons of creative acts and play.

Corita is an enormous example of a creativity primary “source”. She would most likely quickly remind you that your friends and daily creative life are also your sources. Her work with words still connects today and is needed more now than ever. Which is why I really enjoyed the Corita Art Center re-opening.

In a quick list, here are the creative connections I think will add a little more hope and fun to our world. If you’re an art student or just a human needing a little extra art teacher energy these days, I hope they get you stoked for Friday.

1. More pizza, sorry not sorry. This YouTube video about the guy who holds the Guinness Book of World Record for most unique pizza boxes collected.

2. This Substack by Creative Victoria Topping for the Spring Equinox. I want to creative direct multiple of these artworks on some @coalitionssnow skis designs, but especially this one.

Victoria Topping

Music for the eyes • Art for the soul • Love for all

3. Learn more about the Raven in the Glade work here. Check out the image below for details on how you can help protect this unique natural space!

4. Follow the Corita Art Center | website and instagram.

5. Follow Anna’s Substack - Creative Fuel.

Creative Fuel with Anna Brones

A newsletter and community dedicated to exploring the intersection of creativity and everyday life with Anna Brones. For the creative energy that resides in all of us.

References:

Corita Kent, Jan Steward (2008). Learning by Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

Gray, E. D. (1988). Sacred dimensions of women’s experience. Roundtable Press.

Happy Friday. I’m back teaching my favorite course this spring - the Psychology of Creativity to my undergraduate art educators. I’m being reminded of how stoked and joyful I feel when creating with students, a much welcomed counter to the collective challenges being felt. The art room and art studios are such important places. They are settings of escape, experimentation, creativity, and my favorite - play. There's something about teaching creativity and revisiting the weekly themes with students that heightens my creative antennae to where they connect in my daily life (or it's probably also because like the art teacher I am, I love sharing as many cultural connections to nerd out with my students). Here’s what I shared with my students this week in class.

1. This pizza video from - The United States of Pizza, mapsplained. I love seeing the look on my students' faces when I start talking about how creativity is a lot like pizza during my “what is creativity?” seminar.

2. ’s Substack post Dream Spaces, Creative Places where I learned about transgender artist Edie Fake. My art teacher brain is exploding, an excellent artist to highlight in art teaching.

3. Crocuses I drew in my journal this week, inspired by my front yard.

4. How a meme cartoon led my household conversation to learning more about the artist, Thomas Cole Who was Thomas Cole? Overview of Famous Hudson River School Artist

5. Something my students taught me this week - “To be cringe is to be free” https://www.tiktok.com/@sheteachesart?lang=en

My studio had become a disaster zone, I knew it (and I) needed a reset.

In the weeks prior and following my knee surgery this Fall, I watched it become neglected from use and energy. The longer I was immobile, the more drained my creative space became. If my knee pain and frustrations had any metaphor outside of my body, one glance into this space showed you. 

Creative blocks come in all shapes and sizes. Mine recently has been the stress and soreness of knee rehab. However, when I reflect on ebbs, my art teacher voice reminds me they are also just a part of the process - which helps make them a little easier to comprehend. It's times like these that first got me curious about researching creativity. A self-study on drawing, art, and thinking I’ve been conducting since my own undergraduate passion for Sports Psychology. From then, all of the connections and practices I’ve made throughout studying and teaching visual art. 

There are many ways people have offered support in challenging times. This recent Greater Good Magazine article, Six Ways to Break Your Creative Blocks - Unlocking your creative potential starts with setting up your environment and cultivating the right attitude, shares many approaches researchers and creative thinkers has shown are effective in elevating one’s connection to creativity, like embracing uncertainty and finding your intrinsic passions.

Dr. Hermanson points out that creativity needs space, which is a topic explored extensively throughout my psychology course. When discussing with my art education undergraduates, we consider the physical outer spaces (work desks, classroom layouts) and the mental inner spaces (support, well-being) as important ways art teachers can learn about their own beliefs on creativity (inner) and apply instructional strategies to benefit their students’ creativity (outer). This I believe will open the visual arts classroom into deeper connections with creativity, a way of thinking all students’ have and deserve opportunities to connect with on individual levels.

Needing a boost in your own creativity?

Reflect on your spaces and find time to connect with it this week.

What does your ideal physical creative space look like? 

Is it a tool bench? A kitchen? A table?

What does your ideal mental creative space look like? 

For me, it’s daily journaling practice. 

At the start of the Fall term, I asked my undergraduate students to share their “creative space” as we introduced ourselves. A long, sunny October meant I soaked up every last bit of warmth on the outside porch - especially knowing the cooler temperatures were going to move me indoors towards my inevitable studio situation.

Diving into my own creative space reflections, I was reminded of Austin Kleon in his book Keep Going on staying creative in the good and bad times. He mentions creative spaces first in chapter two, referring to them as “bliss stations” or physical (or imaginary) places that are both a sacred space and a sacred time to connect. Lastly, with chapter eight “When in Doubt, Tidy Up”, Kleon makes great arguments for why a little productive procrastination can rejuvenate a creative practice. 

Here’s a more recent Substack article by Kleon building his own dream studio. 

Over the past month, a daily “PT goal” became spending whatever time I could in my studio, deep cleansing every corner and box. The process of clearing out helping mentally to clear out and physically my own stamina for time spent on my feet. The space has completely opened up, a reset for connecting back to my studio practice.

Corita describes this right away in Learning by Heart, the course text for psychology students. In Corita’s opening, she shares a “Zen statement, After ecstasy the laundry, which we might reverse to say, After much laundry comes a moment of ecstasy” (2008, p. 5). For me, this feels like the process of creating my space while also being inspired by my space to get back to work. An energy invested in the creative process that can help work out of a funk. 

Beyond a messy room, our societal spaces are certainly in worrisome times. Gratitude and Fear are big emotions to be holding onto, conversations I hold often with my morning reflection writing. In trying times, I’m often grateful to turn towards Corita Kent’s words and works for social justice. In her Beginning chapter, Corita writes as if almost talking to the future, 

“To dream about creating a new world that is not teetering on the edge of total destruction and not to work at it doesn’t make a peaceful world. So it is important that we are creative people working daily on the greater picture as well, bringing to it all our skills of imagination and making. We make this larger picture also with hard daily work, by specific actions. All our creative skills are needed to keep up this tremendous work. And we work on it so that we and our children may have a world in which to fulfill our reason for being here—which is to create” (2008, p. 4). 

SUBSTACK FIRST LOOK!

Thank you for reading here on Substack! I am so thankful to take lessons out of my classroom and into everyone’s daily lives in their connections with creativity.

I have (10) ORIGINAL DRAWINGS available on a Studio Archives Sale through December 1st!

Below are (10) unframed original drawings available for purchase. Sizes and prices vary, see form for specific artwork details. These artworks are signed original works, prices include shipping & handling. Complete this form if you’d like to claim an artwork for yourself or a loved one this holiday season!

I’m nine weeks post knee surgery this week, this past October I’ve been so grateful for all the spooky fun in my healing process (plus all of the friends that joined me).

Last Halloween, I wrote about why I think it’s our most creative holiday. Each year, I continue to deepen my love for this witchy celebration. Think about it, have you felt a little bit more creative lately? Halloween is a perfect invitation to to embrace fun and creativity.

Catherine Price, author of The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again, contextualized an excellent way to define what makes something “fun”. I’ve applied her mix of “playfulness, connect and flow” to many areas of my life. I share these as my classroom “policies” to also how I personally like connecting with others.

So whether you created a homemade costume or put a skeleton in your front yard, you most likely experienced true fun. Because Halloween is something human beings need, and a little more playfulness, connection and flow is always helpful when the sun starts to set a little lower each day.

Playfulness

Playfulness is a spirit of lightheartedness, freedom, and lots of laughter. If you have young children around, they are truly the experts here. Recently, K created his own retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hallow to our three-year old friend Theo. The true purpose however was to give K an excuse to spray alcohol on the fire to make it roar, which was always met with laughs and requests for more. It made no sense, it was original and purposeful, my favorite example of creativity this spooky season.

Connection

There are many ways to feel connection with what you are doing. You can feel it physically through activities, or often, its in connection with friends and family. Halloween offers many versions of shared experiences that help connect us - pumpkin carving, fall festivals, or my favorite - sitting around a bonfire.

Flow

We love it. It’s that time when we loose track of time, forget to look at our phones, or for me lately, lots of journaling and writing.

Any experiences coming to mind lately?

Halloween 2024 Connections

This year’s Backyard Party invite.

Backyard decorations.

Sketchbook drawings.

Pumpkin party,

Halloween podcast list 2024:

Halloween show list 2024:

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (witches)

Wednesday (witches)

Agatha All Along (witches)

Interview with a Vampire (vampires)

Every Bob’s Burger’s Halloween episode (always worth the binge)

Happy Halloween!

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Hey Creatives, 

Today June 20th takes the longest day of the year clocking in around 15 hours of daytime where I live in Denver, Colorado. Even better, the following day on June 21st this year is a full moon. The chance of the full moon falling on the same day as summer solstice is very rare. Making today’s creative celebration an extra special one this season. 

Want to geek out on your sun and moon stats like I did? This website was very fun, plug in your home!

May Day kicks off the season, where Midsummer brings it on home in celebrating summer. Scrolling through this wiki list of countries that celebrate this time of the year some commonalities across cultures include outdoor gatherings with bonfires, feasting, and sometimes a little tomfoolery - like the Swedish Midsummer that ends with a skinny dip at night. Some classic human celebration right there.

Perhaps we feel this need for appreciation for the sunshine because it’s actually boosting serotonin in our brains, which does great things like give you more energy and help you feel more positive. This curiosity about how the sun effects us led me to learning more from science author Linda Geddes in her lecture here. 

How Sunlight Affects Our Bodies and Minds - with Linda Geddes

This had me all connecting like an Always Sunny Episode on how the summer season influences creativity as a whole, and in my own practice.

It’s a good thing, my friend - Isles of Curiosity and Wonder (Digital) Midsummer Creative Retreat: 2024 Edition starts today. *I’m going to be working on a mural the next few days & hoping to take my breaks to follow the retreat prompts. Check it out more to join along :).

Sunshine and Creativity. 

The sun and sunshine have been inspiring creatives for decades. There are many examples across creative spectrums, do any come to mind for you? 

Here are a few of my favorite connections - 

Song lyrics, 

I know I'll see you in the morning

But I still hate to see you go

I could stay here forever

Dancing in your golden glow

- by LVDY, Dear Sun

Poetry, 

The Sun

Have you ever seen

anything

in your life

more wonderful

than the way the sun,

every evening,

relaxed and easy,

floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,

or the rumpled sea,

and is gone–

and how it slides again

out of the blackness,

every morning,

on the other side of the world,

like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,

say, on a morning in early summer,

at its perfect imperial distance–

and have you ever felt for anything

such wild love–

do you think there is anywhere, in any

language,

a word billowing enough

for the pleasure

that fills you,

as the sun

reaches out,

as it warms you

as you stand there,

empty-handed–

or have you too

turned from this world–

or have you too

gone crazy

for power,

for things?

by Mary Oliver

Visual Art, 

Sunrise, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1916.

Zigzag Sun and Crags, Alexander Calder 1972

Sunset, Long Island Georgia O'Keeffe 1939

For more The Sun in Art at the Smithsonian

Physical, 

Design, 

What makes a font influenced by the sun?

Building homes to work with the sunlight in “Passive Solar Design”

Music, 

I put together this playlist of some of my favorite sun-inspired bangers. 

This Summer Solstice, I encourage you to connect creatively however you feel most alive by the sun. Perhaps you enjoy an extra long sunshine or you’re more of a sunset bonfire human, this day calls each of us to celebrate the energy in sunlight. 

creative exercise: draw the sun!

The sun has been the subject of human attention for quite some time. As an art educator, I’ve always been fascinated by our study of children’s drawings. According to this study - A Study Regarding the Representation of the Sun in Young Children’s Spontaneous Drawings, researchers found that “virtually half of the children (N = 138) classified the sun as a living thing, while two in five expressed that clouds were alive (N = 120)” (Villarroel and Villanueva, 2017, p. 6). 

I think we should draw more anthropomorphic suns honestly, even if art school eventually beats this out of you. Your creative exercise is simple here, doodle the sun. Add color (majority of children use yellow) or rays, your options are endless. 

And have a happy Solstice. 

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References:

Villarroel, José Domingo, and Xabier Villanueva. 2017. "A Study Regarding the Representation of the Sun in Young Children’s Spontaneous Drawings" Social Sciences 6, no. 3: 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6030095