From Top: Earthbound Triptych (Water is Life, Fired Up, Forest Stroll); Communicate Triptych (Missed Communication, Defying Deception, Seeking Compromise); Three Blessings & a Warning; stacked, from top: Divided Threatened Attacked, Missing, Fourth Wave; bottom, Rebuilding.

Whew! June was ablaze with sending work to exhibits: San Francisco, Sault Ste. Marie, Rhinelander, WI, Mount Vernon, IL, St. Louis. Eleven tapestries in five shows.

The month started with three works in the Continuous Thread exhibit curated by the Weavers’ Guild of St. Louis, and hung in the University City Library Gallery. I grew up in this library in the progressive inner-ring suburb of St. Louis. My very first exhibit — and award — was in this exact space when I was 16 or 17, in a community show that allowed teens. I got my very first negative crit at this show also, when a rather smug adult questioned the technique. I never forgot this priggish old man. Comments like that to young people shut them down or fire them up. I guess I should be grateful to him. I was fired up! Three Blessings & a Warning, Missing, and Fourth Wave, all from the Covid Series, hung in the gallery from June 1-27.

Northern National Art Competition selected Rebuilding, also from the Covid Series, for it’s 38th annual exhibit at the Nicolet Art Gallery in Rhinelander, WI. This tiny town in the northwoods seems an unlikely setting for a national exhibit. I’ve been in this show several times and went to the opening in 2023. The large gallery was PACKED with patrons from around the region. It’s an exceptional show and I was sorry I couldn’t attend the opening a couple of weeks ago. The all-media exhibit is open through July 26. You can take a virutal tour of the show here: https://app.lapentor.com/sphere/northern-national-art-competition-2025. If you’re in the Wisconsin north woods, it’s worth a stop.

Tapestry Weavers West mounted a beautiful show, What’s Going On?, that opened in the Mills Building in San Francisco on June 16 and runs through September 26. Divided Threatened Attacked was selected for the exhibit. Tapestry Weavers West is a professional organization of some of the best tapestry weavers in the country — and a few from Europe — though most are from the West Coast of the United States. It’s an honor, truly, to have work among them.

Communicate Triptych (Missed Communication, Defying Deception, Seeking Compromise), is hanging now at the Cedarhurst Art Center in Mount Vernon, IL.. Here is another small town gallery and art center that is beloved by the community. The center mounts a biennial all-media exhibit that draws work from around the Midwest. Again, the reception last Friday was well attended by patrons. Never underestimate the value of art in small towns. The exhibit runs through September 21. The 31st Biennial exhibit catalog can be downloaded or viewed from a link on this page: https://cedarhurst.org/new-semantics-gallery/

And finally, opening tomorrow, July 1, is the Natural Elements exhibit hosted by the Sault Art Center, Sault Ste. Marie, MI. Selected for this show was Earthbound Triptych (Water is Life, Fired Up, Forest Stroll). I love the UP (Upper Pennisula of Michigan) and head to the Soo (as it’s called) whenever we venture north. Yes, we are “holiday Yoopers!” though real Yoopers would roll their eyes at that claim. I’m delighted to have work in this show.

Work doesn’t magically appear on gallery walls. These five shows represent months of applications, waiting for acceptances or rejections (there were a couple in the batch), and shipping off work in the right order to the right place. Record keeping, selecting the right work for the right show, making sure exhibits don’t overlap or work isn’t double-booked, is all part of running a working studio.

We artists are ever grateful for your attendance at a gallery opening, a visit during the show, and even a purchase, which supports the artist and the gallery.

A new round of applications starts this week.