Authentic Obsessions

Artist, teacher, collector, and storyteller Molly Meng is a force for good. Molly is heavily influenced by a scrap of paper, a single word, opera, rap, theremins, the thick cotton of an old book page, random sentences, and an overheard statement. Molly exudes optimism and curiosity, and believes we are ALL related and connected to each other.  Takeaways 1. Just ask. 2. On social media: Follow less, engage more. 3. Same but different. 4. Be here now. Let go. 5. When you want to see beauty somewhere, if you don’t already see it, you have to create it. Make it come about. Mentioned Follow Molly on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/molly_c_meng/?hl=en] Molly’s website [https://www.mollycmeng.com/] The Traveling Postal Club [https://www.instagram.com/thetravelingpostalclub/] Matthew Frederick [https://www.mjfrederickart.com/home.html] French General workshops [https://www.frenchgeneral.com/collections/workshops] Jen Peterson’s Instagram - the pursuit of sunshine [https://www.instagram.com/thepursuitofsunshine/?hl=en] On Being [https://onbeing.org/series/podcast/] with Krista Tippett podcast Chanel Miller [https://www.chanel-miller.com/]

Priorities, patriotic quilts, procrastination, studio space evolution, and playing with the tension and finding the edge! Maura's journey began in 2011 when she followed her dream to merge gardening and quilting. Hailing from a family of quilters and tailors, Maura finds joy and meaning in connecting with her ancestors through her craft and preserving heritage techniques. A pioneer in hand-dyed fabrics and hand-stitched quilts, Maura has inspired an international movement by sharing her plant-based dyeing processes and using those colors in quilt making. Her brand, Folk Fibers, has become a sought-after choice for heirloom quilt collectors. At her home studio and garden sanctuary, Maura immerses herself in color, allowing the transformation from seed to plant, dye, and textile to inform her work.  She shares her expertise by teaching workshops locally and abroad, emphasizing a balance of technique and play. Maura and her family live on a ten-acre woodland property near the lower Colorado River in Bastrop, TX. Embracing the seasons, Maura's connection to nature and authentic living continues to inspire her creative work. Takeaways: 1. Once you sit down to work in this slow intentional process of hand sewing there’s a heartbeat, a quiet space, a discipline of being present and reflection, allowing the waters to clear. 2. Artist dates are where creativity blooms. 3. Quilts touch the deepest parts of people’s lives. 4. There are many places in life where we have a need to control, but our art practice is a place where we can let go of that control. 5. The work speaks for itself, it’s told to me in real time. Maura Ambrose Folk Fibers [https://www.folkfibers.com/] Maura Ambrose on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/folkfibers/?hl=en] Maura Ambrose on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/folkfibers/] Aurora Silk [https://aurorasilk.com/wp/] natural dyes

Glue & adhesives, rules & parameters, loving the outcome without loving the process (this is where discipline comes in!), purposefully making things that others might not want, and knots all come up in today’s episode with Lisa Solomon. Lisa Solomon is a studio artist that moonlights as a college professor and illustrator/graphic designer. Profoundly interested in the idea of hybridization (sparked from her Hapa heritage), her mixed-media works and large installations revolve around domesticity, craft, and personal histories. She often fuses "wrong" things together--recontextualizing their original purposes and incorporating materials that question the line between ART and CRAFT. She resides in Oakland, California with her husband, a teenager, two kitties, a three legged pit-bull, a dachshund mutt and many, many spools of thread. She is the author of - A Field Guide To Color, The Color Meditation Deck, a historical book on Crayola crayons, Knot Thread Stitch, and the illustrator for 20 Ways to Draw a Chair and Draw 500 Everyday Things.  Takeaways 1. When it comes to making art, consider using the word ‘parameters’ instead of ‘rules.’ 2. Art is a space where you investigate things. 3. Discipline is integral to everything. 4. It’s not about only making work when you are inspired, it’s about the ACT of making. You can contribute to Lisa’s Japan Chroma Exhibit by sending material before May 30, 2025 to: PO BOX 99534, Emeryville, CA 94662 Lisa Solomon [http://www.lisasolomon.com/] Lisa Solomon on Instagram [https://instagram.com/lisasolomon] Lisa Solomon on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/lisasolomon.bsky.social] Lisa Solomon on Pinterest [https://www.pinterest.com/lisasolomondotcom/] Lisa Solomon on Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/shop/lisasolomon] Artists Take Action [https://artiststakeaction.tumblr.com/faq] This to That [https://thistothat.com/] Walter Maciel gallery [http://www.waltermacielgallery.com/] Tadao Ando architect [https://www.clarkart.edu/microsites/tadao-ando-architect/biography]

Michael McConnell was born in Michigan, where he used to watch squirrels from the front window. He graduated from Columbus College of Art & Design, with an emphasis in lithography and painting, and landed in the Bay Area soon after, where he still lives. Making art is how Michael makes sense of the world and his forgotten childhood, creating visual narratives that examine the space between memory and nostalgia. During his conversation with Molly Meng, Michael talks about how falling in love with Joseph Cornell’s work allowed him to excavate his own language of “symbology.” He also reveals how the ropes and strings used in his work are about lineage and connection, symbolizing a narration thread. Takeaways 1. You can figure out how you want to make something by learning how someone else makes something. 2. Your personal life affects your artwork. If you’re feeling like you don’t have a voice, ask yourself what you want to say with your art. Are people listening? 3. Slow down and let go of the expectation that you should crank the work out. 4. Be careful what you start collecting!   5. Color becomes an environment for things and is about pushing something and taking it further. 6. “Sometimes you just go into the studio and just sharpen pencils.” The Woodmans documentary Michael McConnell [https://www.poopingrabbit.com/] Michael McConnell on Instagram [https://instagram.com/poopingrabbit] Michael McConnell on Bluesky [https://bluesky.com/poopingrabbit.bsky.social] Joseph Cornell [https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/joseph-cornell-shadow-boxes-assemblage-art] Courtney Cerruti [https://www.courtneycerruti.com/] Brian McDonald [https://www.sillydilly.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaazt8BpY9Ynu1pV9uCuoeZnlIEuAQoOeQLDTr6wOzoEDRHS_epyfVvNZz4_aem_dSccG0iXeNhPRVFq29E6Bg] The Woodmans [https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/woodmans/] documentary

Let the loose thread be dangling!  Born and raised in New England, Sarah Haskell has a BFA in Textile Design from RISD and a Masters of Art and Healing from Wisdom University.  As a seeker, maker and creative pathfinder her medium is most often thread, investigating the mystery of encoded fabrics and the hidden language of cloth. Sarah talks about the soothing nature of weaving, the importance of community involvement, how the natural world and its objects (rocks, shells, pinecones) speak to her, and making work that you yourself need to see. Sarah uses embroidery, weaving, and natural dyes to explore personal truth and universal wisdom. I love how she describes her obsession as taking separate objects and putting them together in an organized structure that other people can respond to. She creates a structure from things that are chaotic. Takeaways: 1. A sketchbook is a repository for your dreams, thoughts and ideas - all of it, everything! 2. Weaving is a full body process. 3. Thread is elemental- almost like DNA. 4. Approach everything with an awareness of all the things we can see and those that we cannot. 5. Make the work you need. 6. Find a way to raise up all the boats in the harbor. 7. Take off the backpack of self-doubt and keep forging ahead. Sarah Haskell [https://sarahhaskell.com/] Sarah Haskell on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sdhaskell/] Sarah Haskell on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100031055755791] Molly Meng [https://www.mollycmeng.com/#/]