Intentions

As 2025 came to a close, I found myself thinking about what I wanted for 2026. I know it’s an arbitrary gregorian calendar boundary event, but it can still be a nice excuse to reflect back and plan ahead 🙂

I don’t always like thinking about things in terms of goals. It can feel to black-and-white, pass/fail, and my emotional makeup doesn’t do well with it. Instead, I’m trying to consider intentions. Intentions can be a destination or a journey. What am I aiming toward this year? What do I want to embrace, let go of, change, improve, explore, accomplish?

Make more art, day-to-day. Art that isn’t made for anything in particular except for the making of art. One way of doing this is replacing some of my coffee doomscrolling in the morning with weaving on my small loom; being able to do this will mean setting up the loom at night and picking out my yarn so it’s ready to go when I’m sleepy and weaving the next morning 😄

Blog more. I’ve always liked writing as a creative pursuit, but I feel like I’ve gotten too precious about it in the last few years. I want to write more as a way to think about my process, share what I’m learning, and connect with other people. It doesn’t have to be perfect!

Partner with local shops to carry my ceramic jewelry. I made ceramic jewelry for my Exploring Professional Pottery class, and I found that I really enjoyed designing the jewelry! Earrings have long been my go-to souvenir for trips and I see them as affordable art; and the necklaces are like wearable tapestries. I want to keep exploring this area, keep making and refining my jewelry style and collection, and find a shop or two to carry them. I’ve also got my eye on proposing a bolo tie collaboration 🤞🏼

Learn more about weaving as a historical craft. Weaving has so many forms. Functional, wearable, fine art, installation art, different materials… on and on. I want to dive deeper in the artists and techniques that have come before me, to learn more about this craft that I love and to be more intentional about gaining knowledge and adding to my skillset. If you have any book, workshop, or artist recommendations, I’d love to hear from you!

Be more involved in community. I am a socially anxious introvert, but I also want to be engaged in the community around me. I want to say yes to more things that involve leaving the house, being around groups, meeting people, going to galleries, supporting artists. Building relationships takes time and effort, and I want to be more intentional about that this year. I’m in a craft club, book club, and bead club that meet once a month, and I want to try and hit at least 80% of them! They’re full of lovely people doing fun things, and there’s no reason to let a little social anxiety get in the way of enjoying time with them 😅

Sell more art. This may seem like table stakes, but it does take intentionality and thoughtfulness. For the past few years, I’ve made art as more of a hobby where it’s also nice if someone else likes it and buys it. Now, I’m at a kind of crossroads - I was laid off from my role in tech last year, and I’m figuring out how to continue creating art that I enjoy that can also be a business.

Create weavings for weddings. I made ceremony weavings for the Big Queer Wedding last fall, and I just loved getting to see my art be a backdrop for the day. And at the end of December, I got to make a weaving and join Lavender House Event’s styled wedding shoot up in Seattle, which was so much fun! For individual weddings, I just think it would be lovely to have a beautiful weaving at the ceremony that the couple gets to take home with them as a keepsake. Instead of a temporary and impersonal backdrop, the weaving could reflect the weddings colors, or incorporate materials that are important to the couple. If you are a couple getting married (or know of a couple getting married), or you’re a photographer or planner doing a styled shoot, please get in touch!

Create installation work. I love installation art. Big, impactful art that takes up space. I have some ideas bouncing around in my head (and my notebook! That I carry with me at all times now, thanks to my EPP class 😄) and I’m hoping for some opportunities to execute them this year.

I know that some of these will be journeys, rather than destinations. They’ll evolve, change form, iterate as I change and grow as an artist and person. But I think the core of my intentions this year will stay the same - more community, more creativity, more exploration.

What are your intentions for the upcoming year?