11/10/2025
Week Zero: Last week I found out my MFA Thesis Show will be again on March 1, 2026. And run until March 7, with a reception and Artist’s Talk on Friday, March 6, 6-9pm. So perfect! That means I have exactly 16 weeks to create this experience. So last week was week zero, full of emptiness and yin energy, fish bones found while walking in the woods, light and shadow in Cypress trees, looking at inspiring paintings (titles below) black coffee and graphite, journaling to understand my thoughts, back of the napkin sketching, dreaming about ancient diagrams of belief, and envisioning three rooms filled with color and light. ✨
That’s what I love about Week Zero. It’s that slow time before the work or even the planning begins, where you can dream and envision, gather ideas and resources. I didn’t even know the concept of Week Zero existed until last week (i made it up) - that Zero’s such a sly little non-number!😉 But Week Zero allowed me time to breathe, get my head around the idea of my show, take stock and get ready for the countdown, starting with Week 16!
The thought I practiced last week was: I am open! Just like a zero. That thought brought a lot of new concepts and helped me broaden my perspective, read new things and feel like time is spacious.
⏳So as I begin Week 16, I will be writing about this adventure, and also each week I’ll be working on /finishing a chapter from my book, 16 Journeys. This is the combination of several years of travel and research, visiting the birthplaces of my 16 great-great grandparents, from Salem to Far West, from Denmark to Ghent, Solva, Wales to Brighton Beach. This synchronicity of timing is such a gift. Allowing me to feel connected to my ancestors and to my current work, and this show is a devotion to them - how I got here - and to the creative force that lives in all of us.✨
I’d lovevto hear your thoughts about the concept of Week Zero! 0️⃣☯️🖤☕️
I’m tagging 16 friends, coaches, and mentors - your energy is helping me through this!✨✨✨
O’Keefe’s Jimson W**d & Paul Gauguin Above the Sea, both at in Indianapolis, IN
