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Dear Studio friends, There have been a lot of changes in the past month, the most obvious here being the end of snow and the beginning of seeing things in nature growing again. But there's something eerie about the dissonance between spring's budding trees, blooming daffodils, and singing birds against the constant breaking news of so many aspects of our country breaking down. On the other hand, it’s comforting that the robins don’t care, and the chives are thriving – for now. I received a welcome dose of hope during a mid-April visit to UNC Asheville as a visiting artist, where I had the opportunity to meet with BFA and advanced sculpture students. Seeing what people are making is one of my absolute favorite things to do. Young people have been through a lot in recent years– including hurricane Helene for all the folks in Asheville – and the students I met were all finding ways to process these events and make sense of everything through various forms of making. It was a privilege to hear what they’re thinking and to see the objects they’re inventing. While at UNC Asheville I also attended the opening of the 2nd Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition sponsored by of the Department of Art & Art History, which includes one of my sculptures. It was great to meet some of the other artists and hear about their ideas and processes. This trip to North Carolina and back challenged me to maintain the daily Broken Box assignment. I brought along two basics from the studio – duct tape and super glue – planning to scavenge other materials along the way. On days spent just driving, materials were scarce. I mostly used hotel notepads, wooden coffee stirrers, and tourist brochures. During the few days I managed some hiking and biking, I collected pieces from fallen trees and rocks from trails, which were welcome additions to the box-making material options. The on-the-road Broken Boxes mostly got smushed in transport (appropriate), so they didn’t make it into the main photo archive on the website but below are some snaps I took along the way. Other Broken Box images from April are here. Ten days on the road reminded me that duct tape and super glue are probably good supplies to travel with regardless of any potential sculpture projects, just in case. I hope wherever you are there are some new flowers in your life. Thank you for joining me. More soon, Lydia
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