I’ve been trying to remember some of my past New Year’s resolutions. Mostly I remember the goofy ones like “to eat more Indian food” in 2017. I was very successful because whenever I was on the road and couldn’t decide what to eat I went with my resolution! I do like to use the resolution idea not to just improve myself but to make me have more of the things I love to have happen in my life happen.
I remember my 92 year old grandma thought it was very funny that my resolution was to eat more Indian food but she went along with me a couple of times and actually liked it!
One year I resolved to go to more show openings. We really went at it in the winter, sometimes going to two or three galleries in one Friday or Saturday night. I think I should try to bring this one back in some form because it does take an effort to get out to exhibits. I found this a great way to discover new galleries. The year I did this resolution there weren’t great ways to find out about openings like now. The twin cities are super lucky to have MplsArts as a resource for all the openings in the area.
This was a gallery opening of my friend Cory Favre’s paintings “The White Knuckle Project”.
There was a year that I bought some really fun new gloves so my resolution was not to loose them. You might think that this is a hard resolution to keep if you are prone to loosing gloves- it just happens! But I found that one time when I left one glove at a class I was teaching and realized when I was already a block or so away it was the fact that I made this resolution that made me go back and get it. I did keep my resolution the whole year but one week into January we were driving back from Colorado and stayed in a hotel in Omaha. About an hour away I realized I’d lost a glove at the hotel- I told myself, “Well I made it the full year so I don’t have to drive back”.
These are my pretty gloves that I have NOT lost YET though I came very close when I dropped one in a parking garage and found it on a post two months later!
This year’s resolution relates to travel because on our recent trips we ended up taking the highways and smaller roads instead of the interstate. When you do Google maps often it will show you a “greener” version of the trip with a little leaf icon and sometimes it’s not that much longer but isn’t on the interstate. We ended up on one of these routes on our way to Colorado this time because I wanted to stop in Sioux City Art Center in Iowa to see the Judy Onifrio show.
Mirror selfie at the Judy Onifrio Show. If you are the in the area you have got to see this exhibit!
As we drove diagonally through Nebraska we were shocked how interesting it was! We drove through many small towns that weren’t more than a gas station and few houses. We even drove by the “Klown Doll Museum” in Plainview, Nebraska, I admit I was too scared to stop. Josh took a u turn to go back to a “flea market” which was really just an antique store that had all kinds of old rusty piles out front. It’s a lot harder to do that on the interstate- we will stop here and there but it’s usually more planned out.
So this year I am resolving to try to take the “greener” and more interesting route to all the faraway lands I travel to in 2024. It might take a few minutes longer but we are finding that it actually feels shorter because there is so much more to see and discover. Besides, we will also save a little gas money that we can use to collect strange antiques that might turn into some new pieces of art!
Here I am working on my latest large scale piece in my studio- many of the found objects here came from stops at antique stores as I travel.