Artist in Residence: Leland, Michigan

I had the honor of spending the last week in Leland, Michigan, creating work for Two Fish Gallery, a fabulous store near historic Fishtown in the northern part of the state on Lake Michigan in Leelanau County. I’ve worked with Jennifer & Michael at Two Fish for many years, but it was such an incredible opportunity to go see this little lake town in person, explore, and create work on-site. I flew up to Traverse City on May 14th and spent the next 7 days hiking, needle felting, and sharing my love of this medium in a state I had never been to before. What an amazing week!

Fishtown is a very unique place, it’s famous for its “shanty” buildings right on beautiful Lake Michigan. These shanties and the famous tug boats, Joy and Janice Sue, have been featured heavily in my work for Two Fish Gallery in the past, but it was so special to finally see them in person. Fishtown also has a small marina, several beaches, a variety of little shops and boutiques, and some delicious restaurants. My favorite meal of the trip was the halibut at Riverside Inn, just down the street from Two Fish! I also enjoyed a cheese sub from the famous and highly recommended Cheese Shanty (even the guy at the rental car place recommended it when I told him I was heading to Leland).

During my time in Leland I did 2 in-person needle felting demos inside Two Fish Gallery, creating work for those interested in my process and answering questions while working in realtime. On Sunday May 18th, I got to teach 2 workshops at Dune Bird Winery to 44 students, most of who had never felted before. They did such a great job! Everyone was able to complete the 6” felted landscape featuring a scene inspired by the local dunes and beaches. The winery was a beautiful location for this event and I’m thankful for the space to teach the local crafty community.

I hiked every single day, sometimes in 80 degree sunshine, sometimes in 40 degree wind and rain, and my favorite treks were Empire Bluff Trail and Pyramid Point, in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The lake really is that blue, the sand dunes really are that bright, it’s almost too beautiful to be real and I even took small tufts of wool roving on my hikes to match them up to what I saw, to be sure my work was correctly reflecting the world around me. I loved hiking through cedar forests, seeing birch trees and a bald eagle. Hiking through the sand tunes was physically tough but worth it. There were several trails in Leelanau State Park near Grand Traverse Lighthouse that I also enjoyed, thanks to the rocky beach views.

There’s quite a few little towns within less than an hour’s drive from Leland, so I made time to explore them as well: Northport, Cedar, Port Oneida, Empire, Maple City, Glen Arbor, and my favorite, Sutton’s Bay, which is just 10 minutes east from Leland. If you visit Sutton’s Bay, I highly recommend eating at Martha’s Leelanau Table and shopping at Silver Slag and Stone. The artist behind the store uses unique rocks found the local beaches, particularly the Leland Bluestone and Petosky Stones. It was hard to choose just one!

I also spent time in Traverse City exploring the parks, trying some local cuisine, and shopping on Front Street. Although, as much as the downtown shopping area had to offer and I could have easily spent all day there (and eaten ALL the tacos at Mama Lu’s Taco Shop) I was really blown away by The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, which is a historic preservation project that has turned an old asylum into a mixed use property featuring shopping, restaurants, offices, and apartments. Plus, you can take a tour of the building and see the cool/creepy tunnel underneath!

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to travel to a new place, take a week to explore and create, teach others meet others, and get to know the owners of Two Fish a little bit better. Thank you again for hosting me and for this incredible opportunity, Jenn and Michael!

I hope you’ll enjoy this little recap video of my time in Leland. It’s such a beautiful place! All pieces are now available for your viewing and purchasing plesure exclusively at Two Fish.

NEW JEWELRY!

I’m excited to announce the addition of hand painted jewelry to the Once Again Sam website. Expanding on my palette knife painting series, I’ve added a new (and very bright) colorway called Great Lakes, inspired by the gorgeous turquoise and blue waters of Lake Michigan. Additionally, I have a limited series of painted landscape pendants avialbe online as well, featuring a scene from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Also, a huge thank you to SCAC for helping me get there:

This project is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This project is also funded in part by a generous award from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina.

Artist-in-Residence: Table Rock State Park

Table Rock State Park is in the upstate of South Carolina, only about an hour northwest of where I live, but it’s another world out there - the tall mountains and windy roads, the pitch black sky at night, the never ending hiking trails - there’s no shortage of inspiration.

I recently spent a week as Artist-in-Residence at Table Rock State Park, my 6th residency with the South Carolina State Parks Program. Each time I participate in a residency, the experience changes me. Sometimes in major ways, like becoming confident hiking alone, and sometimes it’s little things, like learning the difference between various woodpecker calls. I explore and create all week, and it fills my soul. Part of me wishes I could do this every day, but then it probably wouldn’t be so special. I get to slow down and sit still if I choose, but most of the time I get out and see as much as possible. The residency is a true gift!

This particular residency included over 25 miles hiked (both inside and outside of the park), it included 27 needle felted pieces, 1 painting, 6 towns visited, 2 nights out in the cold watching the meteor shower, and several exciting creatures sightings including an armadillo, wild turkeys, and a huge black bear on my very last hike of the week.

I hope you enjoy this short recap video that shares a little more about what I did, what I saw, and how it inspired me. It’s so hard to condense a week, which felt like a month (in a good way) into a few minutes of footage!

All of the pieces shown in the video (plus more) are available for purchase on my website. If you see something you like but would prefer a different size or frame, please message me, I’m happy to recreate any of these.

Shop the collection!

Studio Graffiti Jewelry Series 2024

Every year in my studio, I change out the protective plywood covering on my workbench where I have painted hundreds if not thousands of pieces of art and jewelry over the course of 12 months. The piece of painted 1/8" plywood is an accidental work art. It's every color I've used all year, layered, splattered, and pooled in random patterns. Once the surface is cut up into 4 smaller pieces (so it fits in the laser cutter), these authentic layers of paint from my work surface become little jewels of abstract art. Everything is one-of-a-kind.

The time-lapse video shows my process, and gives a glimpse of just how colorful and unexpected each piece will be once it’s cutout. No two pieces are exactly alike, but if you have a certain color you’d like to be included, just let me know when you order (choose one of the color swatches at checkout) and I’ll find a spot on the plywood that includes that particular color.

This New Year’s tradition is something I always look forward to. The change in my plywood to a fresh unmarked piece, and looking back at the previous year’s colorful mess. It’s a new series where the recipient gets a little surprise, not knowing exactly what the finished piece will look like. It’s abstract art, but it’s also mistakes and overpainting marks.

But really, the reason I love this series so much and continue to make these year after year is that it’s a fun way to repurpose and use something old, ONCE AGAIN, in a whole new way. And that, my friends, is why I started this business.

Flat Out Under Pressure 24-Hour Art-Making Competition 2023

I participated in the Flat Out Under Pressure 24-Hour art-making competition this year in Greenville, SC and it was so much fun (a LOT of work, but worth it!). My mixed media fiber art piece included punch needled yarn, rug hooked fabric strips, and needle felted wool fiber. I’ve participate for several years in a row but this is by far the largest piece I’ve attempted for this competition (and I was really pushing my luck to finish on time).

The piece is about 20" in diameter, featuring a scene inspired by Lake Jocassee, here in the upstate of South Carolina. The finish piece, along with all of the incredible work made by 100+ other local artists is now on display at Metropolitan Arts Council in downtown Greenville, SC and will eventually be available on my website.

Hope you enjoy the process video!

Studio Graffiti: Raspberry Tart

Inspired by the Pantone Color of the Year “Viva Magenta” I added a brand new color way to the Studio Graffiti Jewelry Collection: Raspberry Tart. Using bold berry tones, pinks, red, plum and of course a vibrant magenta, this new color way is a great pop of color during these cold & dark days of winter. Plus, it’s an easy way to participate in color trends without committing to redecorating your entire house or buying a whole new wardrobe!

As with everything in the Studio Graffiti line, each pendant and earring is completely unique, featuring brushstrokes and splatters, so no two will ever be identical, even if the pieces were adjacent to each other on the sheet when I cut them out. It’s your own original piece of art that you can wear every day.

Enjoy this process video that shares how this hand painted collection comes to life, from the very first brush stroke, to the layers and layers of paint, laser cutting the modern shapes, and final assembly. These are a lot of fun to create and I’m already planning my next color way for the spring! I’m thinking something turquoise …

The new series is available on the website, retailing for $24-32, and please feel free to use coupon code RASPBERRY20 to get 20% off your order now through February 14th at www.onceagainsam.com