One month into the new year
Four books read
Two days in the studio
One new artwork worked on
One zine successfully shipped
One MRI for my ankle that I hurt all the way back in October
No “ten lists” written
Anyone following my blog for the last few years will know, I’m never sure what counts as blog content, what should go in a newsletter, or what’s a social media post. I’ve simplified things a bit by no longer using either Instagram or Bluesky - essentially deciding that social media is no longer worth the effort I put into it. I do still have accounts on both platforms, but I just don’t open them any longer. That’s partially a moral stance. I don’t have interest in feeding Meta’s algorithm so that they can keep people scrolling longer and serving them more ads. But, to be honest, it’s a moral stance made easier by my being somewhat lazy. I could personally benefit from using Instagram and Bluesky if I were dedicated enough to post regularly, to play their algorithm game, to treat social media posting like a job - but that’s too much work. Instead I write blog posts that should be newsletters, and newsletters that would be better as blog posts. And then I cross-post them, making it even less clear what is what.
New on the site is a small photo gallery of my Hof, the German work for building courtyard. Ever since I bought my current camera I’ve been taking pictures of the Hof on the rare occasions when it snows here in Berlin. The gallery is only seven pictures, documenting the Hof from February, 2023 through January, 2026 but with time it’ll grow.
I’m also tinkering in the background on a refresh of my collage gallery because the main page loads incredibly slowly. It’s work I’m not wildly motivated to do, but if I can speed up the gallery, it will have been worth it. I’ve been delaying adding any new work to the website because I’m afraid of having to do it twice, if I upload a bunch of images before I’m done with the refresh.
I’m really proud to have successfully shipped another Kickstarter, this time a zine collecting a handful of collage/drawings on found paper. The project started in August, 2025 and zines are only this week landing in the US, though European backers got their zines in November. Because it’s still technically in the fulfilment phase, I’m counting it as part of my January 2026 wrap-up. The project deserves its own blog post but for now you can see all of the drawings/collages collected here.
On the left is a hint as to where my brain is in terms of art-making. On the right is something I made in 2024 that’s clearly playing in the same sandbox. It all has something to do with the intersection of presentation, documentation, and what makes a collage a “collage”. I’ve written something like this somewhere else, but in my mind, an entire art exhibition (or photo gallery, curio cabinet, linkblog, etc.) is just as much a “collage” as any one piece of art make up of some papers all glued together. It’s an idea I’m not totally sure how to explore as deeply as I’d like to, but it’s fun kicking it around in my brain.
Until next time, friends.