2023: The year of stories

Happy New Year! Instead of making resolutions, I choose a theme for the year and see where it takes me. Last year’s theme was community. 2023 is the year of stories.

Stories were a major theme at Penland. I had to give a presentation about my story — my art and inspirations — to my classmates which was a new experience for me. Throughout the session, I was told by several people that my art had a clearly defined point-of-view (!). I was encouraged to think about the narrative of my pieces: what story I wanted to tell with my art. And every week there were evening slides: talks by instructors, studio assistants, resident artists, and more. I left Penland wanting to create a personal portfolio that tells a story, something I will be working on this year.

I also left my job at the end of last year. Any major career decision or shift necessitates storytelling. Everyone asks why, sometimes critically, usually curiously: your boss, your coworkers, your family, your friends. Even yourself. You need to come up with a story and tell it over and over again. Right now, I’m re-writing my own story about who I am and where I’m going. And I’m sure I’ll need to tell that story over and over as I find my footing and reach for new opportunities. I’m excited to take some time to explore my art and also explore ways I can leverage my instructional design and technical writing skills outside of tech.

And more literally, I’ve recently rediscovered written stories. A friend recommended an absurd and poetic book that I devoured over the course of a few days. It made me realize I’ve been reading and listening to low effort content (like memes, chatty podcasts, etc) for the past few years and I want to rediscover stories and poetry that make me look at the world in a different way. Audiobooks are great companions for weaving, sewing, and dyeing, so I’ve been getting acquainted with Libby, Hoopla, and Scribd.

I look back at what I wrote at the beginning of 2022 — those new communities I was exploring — and I honestly cannot believe where they took me. We're two weeks in to 2023: my creative sabbatical already has a nice rhythm and I've lined up some amazing experiences for the year. I'm so excited to see where they lead. Hopefully to another completely unexpected and wonderful place.