New art acquisition: Racheal Jackson

If you call stuff you buy an “acquisition” it makes you sound very fancy and highfalutin. I’m an art collector, folks.

I want to introduce you to one of my favorite people: Racheal Jackson. You might know her better as @banyanbridges on Instagram or from her hit Magnolia show Artfully Designed. She’s renowned for her bright, colorful, and playful murals. She has the best vibes, both online and offline, and watching her flourish as an artist has been such a wonderful thing to witness.

When Racheal announced that she was selling these big cut-out sculptural squiggles, it was just before my birthday and I decided to give myself a squiggle. I knew exactly where it needed to go. I absolutely love this slat wall that divides my studio space from our living room— it defines each space while still letting light through in both directions. I’ve always wanted art on this slat wall, but I also didn’t want something like a canvas or framed art that not only would block the light, but you would also see the “ugly side” of the art when looking at the slat wall from the studio side. This piece has no such issues! And oh my god do I love it so much.

Knowing Racheal, it’s fun to look up and see a bit of my friend living here in my house. She actually bought one of my Home Sweet Tacoma steamroller prints so we’ve now swapped art and both have each other’s work hanging in our homes, which I love. It’s always a funny phenomenon, one I notice often at art markets and craft fairs, that the artists and makers themselves are the ones who find themselves shopping at the other vendors’ booths. It’s hard not to when there are such amazing folks around you making beautiful things.

support your artist friends,

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Creative side quest: vintage quilt tote

Every once in a while I get bit by the sewing bug. It’s usually short lived, inspired by a single item I want to make, and then it fades away as quickly as it appeared, sent into hibernation until the next time I get the hyperfixation. A few years ago I got some damaged vintage quilts from a buy nothing group and at the time was amidst one of these side quest moments and I immediately sewed a jacket out of one of the quilts. I have no idea where this coat went and I imagine it’s already been donated to the thrift store in one of my ruthless I-don’t-wear-this-anymore thrift purge moments.

I suspect that this current phase has been deeply influenced by @softpawvintage who has an entire shop and instagram dedicated to creating pretty coats, totes, bags, and more out of vintage quilts, and when I realized I had one of the quilts leftover from my buy nothing haul those years ago, I pulled it out and started cutting.

While the bug that wormed it’s way into my mind to make this tote was most certainly influenced by Soft Paw Vintage, this tote design itself is based off of a tote design my grandma used to make as diaper bags she would gift to expectant mothers. There would usually be a large pocket on the outside, one on the inside and it would be made out of quilted fabric so they usually weren’t lined. I patterned mine after one of these totes that my mom made and gifted me when I had my kiddo, and while I initially wasn’t going to line mine either, the vintage quilt I used had a thin spot right at the bottom of the tote and I wanted to prevent any eventual tearing so I made an inside liner out of the same quilt, so it’s double thick and it feels nice and sturdy now.

There’s really not much that feels better than getting a side quest impulse and then having everything you need to make it without having to go to the store. So damn satisfying. I’ve never been much of a sew-ist.. sew-person…seamstress…but I was gifted a little sewing machine by my mom when I got married, mostly because I had hella decor to DIY for the wedding itself, but it’s one of the handiest things I can think of having on hand. Even though I don’t sew very often, being able to bust out my machine to hem something, repair a seam, make some curtains, or randomly decide to sew a tote from scratch is extremely handy. I’ve never taken any sewing classes or been taught directly (though I vaguely remember sewing a couple things in 6th grade as a part of learning how to sew for some in-class project), and now with Youtube I imagine it’d be fairly easy to learn the basics online.

All that to say, I think having a rudimentary knowledge of sewing is a really important and useful skill and since we’re in the making-resolutions time of year, if you’ve been thinking about learning to sew, you should do it! Even if you’re not planning on sewing your own clothes from scratch or taking on a big project, it’s a highly practical thing to be able to do. Plus, being able to make super fun stuff once in a while is a fun bonus as well.

Happy making,

Home Sweet Tacoma Light trail

This piece came to be as a fun intersection of my two favorite art events that I participated in— Wayzgoose and the McKinley Hill public art training cohort. Shortly after our final public art training cohort session we were emailed the link to apply for Tacoma Light Trail’s public art call. I had previously seen the call but I didn’t have any ideas for light art and I wasn’t a light artist, nor had I ever made any light-based artwork so I brushed it off as something that wasn’t a priority. But the email, fresh on the heels of a public art training that had me feeling really pumped for making public art, I decided to noodle a little more intently on a light art concept. I knew this Wayzgoose piece had been a pretty big hit, so instead of reinventing the wheel, I decided to reimagine it as light art. As a printmaker I love how printing requires you to think about layers and how many colors you’re going to print and in what order you’re going to print them. So this piece is essentially breaking a print apart into its layers, and then using light to illuminate it all from behind. I love how this piece shifts as you walk past and your perspective changes and the layers eventually align perfectly.

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The black layers of the original Home Sweet Tacoma print I had printed on acrylic plexi from a sign shop, then I got two blank sheets of plexi for the color layers. I tried a few methods of doing the color, starting with acrylic paint, which wasn’t translucent enough and produced too much brushstroke texture, and alcohol ink which was too transparent and not bold enough. Eventually I decided on colored tissue paper applied with Mod Podge, and I love how it actually looks pretty similar to how relief printed ink looks on paper. Everything is illuminated from behind with 100ft of LED strip lights. Designing and executing this piece stretched my creative brain in new and fun ways and it’s always a pleasure to have my art out and about in Tacoma!

The Tacoma Light Trail art pieces will be all over Tacoma for the duration of January, and there are some great live events that are part of the Light Trail as well, so head over to their website to check out the map of light art as well as dates for events!

“Welcome to Mckinley Hill” sculpture

Back at the beginning of the summer I applied to be a part of Spaceworks’ McKinley Hill public art training cohort. One of my goals this year was to start working towards doing more public art, and I’d gone to a couple trainings earlier in the year through both the library and ArtsWa, but this was a really comprehensive training that gave cohort members the opportunity to submit proposals for public art in McKinley hill and get feedback on the proposals, and learn in a hands-on way while also learning directly from artists actively working in public art. I was thrilled when I got into the cohort and we spent hours in the neighborhood, listening to public artists, community members, and walking the streets of McKinley Hill to get an idea for temporary public artworks we might want to propose. Cohort members had the exclusive opportunity to submit proposals for five temporary public art pieces, plus one permanent public art installation.

When I saw the spot at the top of the hill coming into McKinley from the dome and heard about the long term goal for the neighborhood to have permanent gateway sculptures at the north and south end of the business district creating a touchpoint for those traveling to welcome them to the neighborhood, I knew I wanted to propose a temporary welcome sculpture. It was the perfect spot for a welcome sculpture, being revealed as people drive around the sweeping corner up the hill from the dome district, as well as right beside bus stops on both sides of the street for folks coming into and leaving the neighborhood via mass transit. I initially planned on pitching two temporary art pieces— a welcome sculpture, and then a street mural in the right of way in the middle of the business district, but when I was planning the sculpture I realized I wanted to merge the two ideas and have one side of the sculpture incorporate the mural.

During our cohort training we heard from the neighborhood’s council member as well as community members and it was apparent how deeply the community cared for the neighborhood and how hard they had worked to build it up and invest in making it a thriving and safe place for those who call the area home. The Audre Lorde quote felt like the perfect encapsulation of the spirit of the neighborhood that I witnessed, and I intentionally chose specific imagery that symbolize the work that has been put into this neighborhood.

Kelp: Powerful growth that has a strong anchor in place.
Banana Slug: Slow and steady forward movement.
Ferns: Nature’s fractals showing how small changes compound into larger ones.
Poppies: Remembrance for community members lost, and hope for the future.
Dove + Olive Branch: Peace.
Broken Chain: structural oppression broken through community support. 

This sculpture will live here for about six months, and will then be uninstalled (perhaps we’ll find another home for it if it’s still in good condition!). If you want to go take a look, it’s about a block north of Dusty’s Hideaway!

Huge thank you to my parents, my partner Dan, and our friend Calvin for teaming up with me to get this behemoth installed! And thank you to Jasmine and Spaceworks for allowing me this opportunity, and Rebecca at the City of Tacoma for supporting me through this process! None of this would’ve come to life without the support from these awesome people.

My DIY plywood market booth build

In the past year I’ve divested from the influencer game and started making art again, and a part of that process involved rethinking my business model. Since I’m not riding that corporate sponsorship money gravy train anymore (lol… TBH I never really was in the first place), I wanted to really slowly and intentionally think about how to make money in this late stage capitalist hellscape that felt aligned with my values, and also didn’t lead to burnout. As I started selling my prints, I knew I wanted to do markets and pop up shops, but I also didn’t want to dive in headfirst, guns a-blazin’ like I usually do. So I’ve been moving slower, thinking about what markets I’d want to do, and how frequently I think I could manage doing a market booth— as well as sussing out which markets/events felt like they’d give me the most bang for my buck. Setting up a booth and manning it for several hours can be exhausting, especially as an introvert.

All of that thinking and planning is finally coming to fruition this month as I’ve got my first pop-up shop on July 20th at Hive Co., then another on August 2nd at the Mom’s Night Out market. I’m super excited. Hive is actually in the same space where I held my DIY Awards Bash in 2023, so I’m super familiar with the space, love the owner Michele, and there are going to be a bunch of other really cool vendors there as well. The Mom’s Night Out market is at another favorite local business— The CoLab, which is actually where one of my first murals lives on the exterior of their cute building.

So! That means I have to actually build out the booth I’ve been planning! “But Liz, can’t you just throw a table cloth on a folding table and be good?” LOL do you know me? I do have to do everything at an 11. I’m unable to turn off this part of me, so we’re gonna dive in and build something that feels really cool, but also hopefully pretty manageable as far as set up/tear down goes.

This image is my main inspiration. I absolutely adore the look of plywood and it’s super straightforward to create two panels of hinged plywood so it covers the front and top of the folding table.

Here she is! So far I’ve done two mini markets with this set up and I’d love to figure out a streamlined way to package all the wood elements up and roll them. Everything, including the angled print holder, folds flat, so they all store neatly and in a small area, but it does take at least three trips to the car and back to bring them all in, so it’d be cool to figure out some way to package them together so I can roll them or something. More noodling for that. I added acrylic shelf things to the front of one panel, and I’ll probably add one or two more layers of that, but for now I just don’t have enough stock to justify more shelving. The acrylic shelves slide off so those aren’t in danger of breaking while I’m transporting the wood pieces.

My next addition will be fabric to cover the sides of the table. I designed this set up so I can make it 6 ft (to perfectly cover my 6ft folding table) or 8ft (with one foot of the wood over hanging each side of the folding table). The 6 ft set up uses both the 4ft and 2ft wood table covers— this is the set up I’m using in the above photos. The 8 ft set up uses two 4ft wood table covers, and if I want, I could do a 6 ft table and then utilize the extra unused 4ft cover on another table to make an L table format. Maybe that all makes sense, maybe not. Hopefully it does! Ultimately, the takeaway is that this design is pretty flexible for different set ups and booth options.