Latest studio updates

Studio News - October 2026

Dear Subscriber First Name,

Summer’s given its last sigh and here we are again in autumn.

August and September were dedicated to administrative duties – inventory updates, proposals, paper, paper, paper! I’m always amazed at how fast time flies when there’s admin to do. Meanwhile, I thought I’d share a few images of the works in progress as well as a few thoughts about my current work.

Consider this as Part I and next month’s offering as Part II of this project – Virginia Blues.

The color blue has been attributed to feelings of calm, safety, and stability in the Western world. It is the primary color of sky and sea, both of which can elicit calm feelings, especially in meditations. Both sky and sea, however, have moments of turbulence so extreme as to cause damage and destruction and death. Similarly, the desire to possess the color blue, specifically indigo, has led to the marketing of human beings - also causing damage, destruction, and death. In my estimation, there are many blues - calming, safe, magical, sad, terrifying, mysterious.

Though I have no favorite color, blue has been on my mind now for several years, starting with my first attempts at indigo dyeing. The process of coaxing color from the indigo plant captivated me and led me to learn more about its history. Last year, there were so many coincidences surrounding the color blue, that I felt compelled to make a book about it.

Just before traveling to my residency at Oak Springs Garden Foundation (OSGF), I read about commonplace books. The term was new to me. Coincidentally, the first day I met my housemate, Barbara, she mentioned that she had been working on a commonplace book about the color blue.

At OSGF, my bedroom was decorated in blue.

The porch ceiling of our house was painted haint blue.

We were in the blue hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

There were outstanding blue blooms of chicory across the fields.

Blue cornflowers bloomed in the gardens.

I had recently read the book Black in Blues, by Imani Perry, recommended by a fellow resident at OSGF. The book was so captivating, I decided to re-read it, this time sampling some of the writings, research, music and poetry referenced in the book.

Most of the works I’ve created as a result of the residency at OSGF feature blue in some way.

These coincidences (are they?), beg to be addressed. Stay tuned next month for more Virginia Blues!

On view

Two of my books – the unique scroll Searching/Finding (pictured above), and the unique version of History of a People, on loan from the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts - are featured in Booking: Artists’ Books by Black Artists, at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, in Washington. The exhibition will be on view through Feb 22, 2027.

Storm Sequence (pictured above) will be on view in American Stories: Artists’ Books from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington D.C., October 6, 2026 through Spring 2028.

Inheritance (pictured above) and History of a People are on view in the Distinguished Alumni Invitational Exhibition, celebrating the 125th anniversary year of my alma mater, Texas Woman’s University, in Denton, Texas. The exhibition will be on view until October 24, 2026. A reception is scheduled for Friday, October 23, 2026, from 5:00–7:00 p.m. I hope to see you there!

Reading

An exhibition catalog of Booking: Artist’s Books by Black Artists is available for purchase at the Bainbridge Island Museum store. The book includes notes from the curator, as well as images of all the works featured in the exhibition.

History of a People has been reviewed in the inaugural edition of the Book/Print Collective, a new journal published by Tia Blassingame, founder of the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color Collective. The journal “assembles conversations, scholarship, and reviews devoted to the possibilities of the handmade and printed book.” To order a copy, please contact tia@bookprintcollective.com.

Happy Autumn! ~alisa

Thanks for reading this newsletter.

You’re receiving this message because you signed a notification list from a show, lecture, or workshop, or requested or consented to receive updates. I hope you’d like to remain on the list, but if not, please click the unsubscribe link below.

Kind Regards ~alisa