GROUNDSWELL

I am happy to share with you that my magical partner Vincent Waring and I will be showing some new work at LA HOMEFARM in Eagle Rock. The show features original Cyanotype prints, including some recent collaborative pieces that we just finished together that I am very excited about.

One of our collaborative prints, Current, was recently featured on the cover of The New Farmer’s Almanac This print will also be part of the exhibition.

At LA HOMEFARM we will also be sharing prints, art booklets, and a small batch of beautiful aromatic hydrosols crafted from our home garden. My recent book of poems, Reverberations, will also be available. If you are unable to make it in person, Reverberations is also available to order online. This book of place-based poems and illustrations is special for many reasons and was created during an Artist in Residency with the On Being Project. 

LA HOMEFARM is a neighborhood grocery and farm market, and a source for beautiful home and garden goods. They specialize in fresh, naturally grown produce from small, local farms and rare naturally grown flowers. If you have not checked out LA HOMEFARM yet, please do!

There will be a reception for the show this Saturday, July 8th from 2-5pm. Local Favorites Pizza Baby LA will be there serving delicious pizza from 12-3pm.

We would love to see you there!

GROUNDSWELL
An Exhibition of Cyanotype Prints 
Summer 2023

LA HOMEFARM
3389 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90065
(323) 474-6323

Opening Reception
Saturday July 8th
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

MYSTICAL GROUND

Mystical Ground is an exhibition at Minnow Gallery featuring original, limited edition collagraph prints by artist Melody Joy Overstreet. Each collagraph print is made by hand and is centered around the sacred life-giving power of seeds. Through a cosmic, microscopic, and telescopic visual approach, the artist explores themes of belonging, interconnectivity, and change. The show includes handmade redwood altars by artist and craftsman Vincent James Waring, and is designed to pay homage to the fundamental elements that compose and sustain our tenuous lives. The exhibition will include a soft opening on Friday, February 3rd, followed by a reception with the artist on Friday, February 17th from 5-8pm. The formal reception will include hot tea from a brewing samovar, a poetry reading, music, and light refreshments. To learn more about the gallery visit minnowarts.com.

Special thanks to The Peace Studio for their partnership and support in making this happen.

MYSTICAL GROUND
An Exhibition of Collagraphic Prints and Altars
February 3rd - 26th

Opening Reception Friday February 17th
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Minnow Arts
204 Locust Street,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Reverberations, A Book of Poems

This past spring, I was moved by the invitation to join a remarkable cohort of artists for a remote Artist in Residency with the On Being Project. I have long appreciated the work on On Being, and brought their conversations into my kitchen, my classroom, the field. It was a delight to have an opportunity to gather with others and reflect on foundational questions, such as "What does it mean to be human?," and "What does it mean to live well in a place, together?" I remain devoted to these questions and will over the course of my lifetime, in hopes that they might also be devoted to me. 

This residency allowed me deep time to focus on sharing what is in my heart, and to my surprise, a book of poems came through! The book is titled, Reverberations. Some of you may have seen it, as I shared a digital version of the book for free in the online realms several months ago. With everything we have been personally and collectively navigating, poetry has continued to be an essential companion. I wanted to make this collection available to anyone whom it might resonate with. If you missed that and would like a link to a free copy of the book, just let me know, and I can reshare it with you. 

After the first release, there were some inquiries about whether a printed version might come to life. Those little notes brought me excitement, as for me, there is something delightfully intimate about a printed book. The way the pages can acquire folds, favorite ones marked with accidental coffee spills, and slowly softened edges. The way they bring comfort in bed, resting on my chest as I fall asleep at night with the soft light still on. I love the tangible quality of a book, its feel, the arrangement of words contained within, its weight. I felt called to print this work, and felt affirmed hearing you share some interest, too.

I am excited to share that I am in the process of printing a small edition of this book of poems. Reverberations will be the first title published through Reciprocal Field Press in tandem with Community Printers. Reciprocal Field Press is a project that Vince and I are dreaming into, and when the time is right, look forward to sharing more with you. In the meantime, here is a link to preorder the book! 

Cultivating Place: An Interview with Jennifer Jewell

I had the immense privilege of being interviewed on Cultivating Place, a podcast by Jennifer Jewell that centers conversations on natural history and the human impulse to garden. We spoke about the practice of making art from the garden, emphasizing handmade inks and watercolor paints. You can have a listen and read some of Jennifer’s stunning reflections here:

ART IN THE GARDEN: LAND-BASED INKS AND PAINTS with IRANIAN-AMERICAN ARTIST MELODY OVERSTREET

"And for me to have an experience with a plant (a rose) that has such a significant role in my family and in my culture, really awakened my senses and gave me a deep appreciation for plants. As food and as medicine, plants have played a very important role in my life helping me to heal my body and mind, helping to connect and re-orient me as a human being. Helping me to really find my place on this earth,

in this place - as though I belong here."” 

Melody Overstreet

Interwoven Voices: Conversations on Change

Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to work in a dynamic community of artists, activists, youth, educators, and visionaries to put together an art exhibition that brings awareness to the ongoing experience of youth in the Foster Care system. Below is a blog post that I wrote in reflection of the process. 

One question that I have sat with throughout this exhibition, and that I continue to carry with me is, how do we inspire a shift from care and good intention to a place of deliberate action?What do we do in the face of a challenge that is so massive in scale? One approach is to take actionable steps, one at a time.

As an artist and educator, I have learned a lot from the Creative Community Committee meetings, the art-making process, and the presentations by youth and youth advocates. Throughout this experience, youth identified and directed the elements most essential to communicate through this exhibition. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to hold space and listen. There are basic physical needs to survival and well being. In my conversations with youth, the importance of psychological perspectives surfaced. It is paramount that we support the physical well-being of youth, while also meeting emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs through the ways in which we approach our relations, and hold space for their unfolding as whole human beings.

During some of our C3 meetings, several youth inquired about weaving. Creating a collaborative weaving made itself steadily more evident as a fitting medium and process to amplify the self-identified needs of transition-aged youth. This collection of interwoven voices highlights youth-identified needs and perspectives, offering a list articulated and hand-written by youth that provides opportunities for meaningful action.

 

Weaving lends itself as a powerful metaphorical act. I think about individuals as part of a larger society— like single threads woven as part of a larger tapestry. I see that as people we have more in common than apart, and that our various lives inevitably intersect. I am inspired in a life-long call to action to meet the needs of youth, to support their individual and collective resiliency, for a society that is rooted in an ethos of care and responsibility for one another. I see clearly that we cannot have a healthy society unless we care for all children. When a vision is shared, the actions of individuals accumulate and have the collective power to shift the tides.

What is our responsibility to future generations? How can we meet the needs of our current generation, and work to change ourselves and the system to deeply address the personal and cultural shifts necessary to provide for future generations?

This work communicates about the “little things” that we can do to support youth aging out of the foster care system. The idea to focus on the “little things” was inspired by MAH intern Karen’s personal insight. Karen shared the idea that as a youth, when experiencing hardships, that the “little things” made a huge difference in her daily life— this included when someone baked her a cake for her birthday, which is a reminder of the soft power of thoughtful gestures.

Alongside the installation, Interwoven Voices, is an installation of Take Action cards. These take-away action cards include the “little things” articulated by youth and youth advocates that have the power to make a meaningful difference in a youth’s current transition and life. The MAH has made these suggestions accessible by printing them on a corresponding card with details of how to achieve that specific action. We are being called to action in a number of ways— through the “little things” first and foremost to support youth in transition, as this is a current and pressing need. We also need to take a deep critical look at the root causes of disruption in family life.

Certainly, these youth carry much wisdom, perspective, and insight, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to hear their ideas and work alongside them. Many youth are demonstrating courage and thoughtful leadership by using their voices to advocate for themselves and for future generations.

In conversation with community member Devin Gonzales, I had an opportunity to broadly discuss the systemic issues and challenges that children and some parents face, challenges that can disrupt family life, and ongoing issues of oppression that variably impact lives. It is not surprising that youth of color are disproportionately represented in the foster care system, as this is an extension of racism. While we take much needed action on the “little things,” it is equally essential that we dismantle the complex and interworking systems of oppression.

Collaborating with Youth and Youth Advocates, partaking in C3, learning from the thoughtful Foster Youth Museum, and working alongside the Museum of Art & History has been a profound opportunity for me, for which I am humbled. This work is ongoing, and I am grateful that the space is being held to bring focused attention and growing awareness to the experiences of youth, as this is one way to heal our current and future generations.

I have been reflecting a lot on a poem by Lu Hsun, that reminds me that Hope requires that we move our feet:

“Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. Rather, it is like a dirt road across the Earth. For originally, there were no dirt roads. When many people walk one way, a path is formed.”

To read the full blog post, and to learn more about the exhibition, which runs from July 7, 2017 to December 31, 2017, visit the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.