minimalism and differential calculus

i was interviewed today  by my graduate school alma mater, stanford university, for a feature that will come out next summer in their alumni magazine. i’m pretty thrilled about it, in part because our daughter, eva, is currently a sophomore at stanford, and i sort of love embarrassing her. i’m that kind of mom. my stanford degree is a masters of science in aeronautics and astronautics, aka aerospace engineering. a career i practiced with enthusiasm for 15 years, before i quit to raise children before it was too late. as the kids got older and more independent, i eventually started a quirky little daily creative practice for myself called STILL blog. one thing led to another, and here we are–six years into my one-year, minimalist creative challenge–and stanford thought that kind of mid-life transition was interesting enough to feature in their magazine. full circle. a very strange circle. but full.

dried clematis with seed pods

low thread count

a description of this weave would not sell many egyptian cotton sheets. the thread count is approximately 0.5. and the fabric might be a little scratchy. but it breathes well.

woven winter willow switches

womb

after a number of months of gestation, something inside this narcissus is trying very hard to be born. it looks like it might be explosive. i’m here to offer my support in any way i can. if something is being created, i want to be the doula.

paperwhite bulb (Narcissus papyraceus)

one leaf, eight ways

i don’t know what prompted me to tear the material out from between the ribs of this leaf. but suddenly i had an almost infinitely photogenic model, who looked alluring but different in every single pose i placed her in. to be clear. this is all the exact same leaf, photographed from eight different angles. i know. i’m amazed myself.

skeleton leaf silhouettes

forest for the trees

there are few sights as evocative to a northerner as a birch forest. we can imagine any number of magical scenes. doctor zhivago on a horse drawn sledge. norwegian trolls and gnomes disappearing just at the edge of peripheral vision. a boundary waters snowfall as silent as any place on earth. a sumi ink painting in whites and grays of a forgotten corner of hokkaido island.

birch tree trunks