Wine and yoga outside? Yes please! Indian Creek Winery and Body Calm put on wonderful events once a month through the summer to share the fruits of their labor and bring a little extra calm to your mat. The sun was out, and everyone was wearing such wonderful bright colors, it was great fun to shoot.
Lululemon Free as a Bird
Celebrating lululemon’s newest ambassador, Shelby Howard as she lead a 45 minute vinyasa flow centered around the feeling, 'free as bird.' The folks at lulu were kind enough to give my project a shout out and let me take some photos. The retail store made for a fun background.
Idaho Health and Wellness Yoga Week!
8 studios and 10 photo shoots, it’s been a busy week, and will be an even more busy month for editing! The yoga community was nice enough to embrace my project and and allow me to take photos at some of their classes to kick things off. Check out some of the shots I got this week.
A new project in the making!
Connect With Yoga will be a creative community art project to celebrate the practice of yoga, foster positive community involvement, and inspire individuals to recognize their personal strength and beauty.
The website is built, I’m getting my schedule together to take photos for Yoga Week next week, and put together this introduction video. Check it out!
Busy Happens
I have been fortunate enough to have a lot on my plate the last few months. At least that's how I'm trying to look at my busy schedule. In early January the Connect With Smith Rock event in Boise was a great success, and later that month my boyfriend and I successfully delivered the painting to Redpoint in Terrebonne.
I figured out what size I was going to make my limited edition prints, remembered how matting works after a few attempts, and finally got my first giclee print framed and mailed! Totally felt accomplished after that was out of my hands.
It seems like my list of things I would like to get done is never ending, and I struggle with that. My character is not one that likes to leave projects undone or in progress for very long. I stress about deadlines, and worry about how my timeline is effecting others. I need to just relax because I know the stress doesn't help, and maybe by putting it into words I will be a little better about it in the future... Fingers crossed.
For tonight, I'm going to allow myself an extra glass of wine and watch climbing videos.
Smith Rock Story Sundays VOL 1
There are hundreds of wonderful stories woven in the final Connect With Smith Rock painting, and while I can't do them all justice, I'm trying to share some of them in my Story Sunday series on Instagram. Here are some of the stories I have collected so far.
November 1st
Here is the first installment of my #StorySunday. "This is how you climb at Smith on Halloween! An inmate and a jazzercise dance instructor poser!" 2013. Well done boys lol!
I've known these two jokesters since I wandered into the OSU climbing gym in 2006. Thanks for all the rad memories guys!
November 8th
Second edition of Story Sunday where I share some details from a photo of my #ConnectWithSmithRock project. Here's one of Cate's stories...
"We snapped this picture on my husband's and my first trip to Smith Rock. We were visiting and climbing with our good friends, Nathan and Claire, who had recently moved to Portland, OR. It was a rude awakening to Smith Rock climbing and the "cajones" and technique required. My ego was shot big time but I have never seen a more scenic climbing area in the US!"
Thank you again to everyone who has contributed!
Cate is also one of the founding members of Crux Crush an incredibly rad climbing blog.
November 15th
Hard to tell it's Smith Rock, but this photo taken of Becca, Amanda and I was an amazing hilarious evening night climbing(that green strap is holding a doll to Becca's back)! Since then, collectively we've wandered the planet a few times, climbed, danced, moved, got married, and had kids to name a few. Congratulations again Becca, Fitz and Tep, may your joy bloom, your laughter grow, and the adventure continue with little Wiley.
Becca and her partner in everything adventure Fitz are responsible for bringing us The Dirtbag Diaries, and Duct Tape Then Beer. If you haven't heard of their work, YOU'RE MISSING OUT!
November 22nd
One of the most incredible and unique weddings I've ever been to! This year my good friends Eric and Gwen were married at sunrise on top of the free standing pillar Monkey Face in Smith Rock State park. Followed by an epic swing, which in my mind guarantees an even more epic future. Thank you both for being an integral part of the community and our lives.
Eric and Gwen are monumental people in the climbing community and the owners of Redpoint climbers supply in Terrebonne Oregon.
November 29th
"Happy feet, happy heart" she says. Amy is what I would call a blissfully happy person with a never-ending tank of good energy! She is a Pharmacist at Westside pharmacy in Bend, trains for enduro races from her home near Smith Rock, and is my Story Sunday pick of the week. Thank you Amy for your endless support and all the wonderful photos you contributed.
Amy ran her first 100 mile enduro this year and has a 50K, 50 mile and 100k on the books for 2016. Get it girl!
December 6th
Having those people in your life that share laughter, advice, and adventure through the full spectrum of experiences are hard to come by. This is my original adventure partner. In 2007 my brother took on his first-ever multi-pitch climb at Smith Rock! Love you bro!
Truly someone I can always count on. This guy is my rock!
December 13th
"The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences." Mikki (Right) quoted Chris McCandless on her first ever multi-pitch! Well done chica! Keep crushing life and congrats again on your promotion!
Mikki was promoted to Sergeant in the U.S. Army shortly before I published this post.
December 20th
Smith Rock wasn't always the sport climbing Mecca it is now. Alan Watts was kind enough to dig through his archive and share some of his stories for my project. I had no idea he hand drew all of the topos in his guidebooks, so cool!
Alan Watts is responsible for putting Smith Rock on the map for rock climbers worldwide and writing the two most recent comprehensive guidebooks. Plus he's a rad guy.
If you have your own Smith Rock story or great memory with one of the rad folks above, please share it in the comments bellow!
A showcase of sorts
So I'm on track to get my project finished before Christmas, but the next task on my list is figuring out where and how to show it?! My thought so far is to have a party/showcase with a keg, food, and prizes. Everyone likes free stuff and beer right?
And the locations...
January 7th; Boise-Urban Ascent
February 5th; Bend- TBD
As you can see, I haven't quite figured out the best Bend location is yet... One limiting factor is the sheer size of the piece. It's 4ft x 8ft so there has to be a wall big enough to display it, and a room big enough for a small crowd...
I'm finding it a bit hard to juggle all my hats at the moment, but I'm optimistic it will come together. So if anyone has some great quotes about patience, or a suggestion for a Bend location please email me or leave a comment bellow.
Thanks all!
Connect With Smith Rock Project Update
So far I have learned a lot about myself and my process during this project. Creating is scary! It makes me feel vulnerable and exposed and has led to some semi-humorous little freak outs. As I complete or start each new phase of this project I'm overwhelmed with the terror of screwing it up, doing it wrong, and failing... For the most part these fears are completely irrational, and I'm aware of that but they are still part of my process apparently.
The little freak outs aren't entirely obvious in the time lapse videos, but the visual part of the process is fun to see...
Here are a few of the videos, and the rest are published on my Youtube channel!
In the studio
Mid September I installed a new floor in my studio and built a badass table that will fit my needs as an artist working with large boards. It's so exciting to have a space! A space where the sole purpose is to create and play!
Last weekend there was an Open Studio Tour around town where other artists opened up their homes and shared their creative spaces. It was so fun to be able to wander through these very personal spaces and see how different artists work. There was the practical side of me that was excited to see how different artists organized their space, and stored their work and materials. And then there was the kid in me that was excited to see all the collections, knick-knacks and colorful mess that was prevalent in most studios. Each artist's character and process was reflected in their studio and I left each one with a different slice of inspiration.
It will be fun in the coming months to continue to mold my space, adapt it to fit projects, personalize it, and just work in it more! I'm especially excited to have a wall designated for inspiration, reminders of things I want to do, goals, deadlines. I think in a very visual-exploding-map sort of way so I'm looking forward to having a space to collect all of those thoughts. And who knows maybe in a year or two I'll be able to open studio too.
And so it begins...
This dream of creating a work of art by the community for the community has been building since late January of this year. I received a grant for the project in April, started promoting the project in early May, and have been vigorously doing out reach and spreading the word of the work I'm doing for 5 months.
All the time and energy has paid off. To say that I am excited is an understatement. I have in my possession 850 community submitted Smith Rock photos spanning several decades, and next is the huge task of putting them all together on three boards totaling 32 square feet. Did I mention I'm excited!? Because I'm really excited!
Over the next month I'll be spending a lot of time in my studio, printing the photos, arranging them on my boards, and chances are drinking a fair bit of wine.
Thank you to everyone who has submitted photos I cannot wait to share this process with you!