For this project, I was asked by the Olympia Artspace Alliance to creatively curate the Spring 2023 Art in Storefronts Exhibit. I responded to the work of three contributing artists though photographs and poetry, which was exhibited along side the other installations.

As part of my process, I spent time with the maple trees I observe daily from my studio. I know their residents intimately—the crows, juncos, robins, and starlings; the squirrels who nest high in the canopy; the moss, lichen, and fungi that grow on bark and in duff. I brought with me artifacts that called to mind the themes of the artists’ whose work I am writing towards: a brass dish that belonged to my Mimi, who died almost a year ago at age 94; a bracelet with an etching of the sun, and a knife embossed with an image of the Buddha—both belonged to my Granny, whose impulse to collect and archive was passed along to me. I brought bones of elk, sea creatures, and birds found on walks and in the garden after a winter spent decomposing under the raspberries. I brought dried flowers and the skeletons of leaves, abandoned nests, and words, so many collected words, fragments spilling onto the covers of my journals—three years’ worth of journals, reflections from when our personal circumferences shrunk so drastically, and my observations focused on the small and the daily, on grief and transformation.