Hi all! Today is my 31st birthday. I have been feeling so much gratitude about this past year of my life. I got married, I fell in love with an art form, I got to spend quality time with family and friends.

I started this email newsletter one year ago today. I’m enjoying it! Thank you to all of you who have read, commented, texted me about it, or supported me generally. My goal was to send out an email monthly, and I didn’t quite do that. I did send 8 emails though, which I’ll take!

Last year, I made a linocut print and did a birthday fundraiser. I loved sharing my piece with you all, especially because the money was going to two great causes. About a week after that, I started my letterpress apprenticeship, and something shifted in me. Immediately, I was drawn to the way letterpress challenges you to be bold and make very specific decisions about what words you want to use. That first night as an apprentice, I could not have conceived the fact that a few months later, Emma and I would buy a press of our own.

When you have a way to share a message and mass produce it, I think it’s important that you use that opportunity. A week or two ago, I was struggling with grief and anger around the violence that the people of Minneapolis have been facing at the hands of federal ICE agents. I went to the studio and made a print that expressed what I was feeling.

Making and sharing that print helped me connect with my neighbors here in Tacoma, and helped me gain a better sense of what I can do here to love and protect my neighbors who may be targeted. It’s not much, I’m still heartbroken and pissed, but it’s something. My neighbors of color are scared, and we need to come together and make a plan for caring for each other.

Thanks for being here and for reading! To see more about what Emma and I are up to in the studio, follow @s2spresstacoma on instagram :)

And now for our January Artistic Angel of the month, my good friend, Nicole Rizzo!

Who are you? What is your name and pronouns? Where do you live?
Hi, all! It’s a delight to have this space to reflect and share – thanks, Maggie ☺

A little about me: I’m an arts publicist who works with local visual and performing arts organizations, theatres and galleries throughout Chicago. This work allows me to strengthen my connecting and meaning-making muscles – it also gives me ample opportunities to be a sponge absorbing the creative energy of so many incredible artists. I consider it a privilege to be trusted as a reliable amplifier (read: professional hypewoman) of these artists’ stories/visions and I really love helping them share their work broadly. I also feel lucky to live in and engage with a city that is constantly pulsing with artistic expression. 

In addition to promoting the arts, I have a variety of artistic practices of my own – writing (poetry, essays) and collaging being the ones I devote most time to.

What does your creative practice look like right now? 
I am constantly trying to broaden my own perspective on what it means to be an artist and where creative practices live and breathe. I always come back to the belief that to live as a human on earth is to be a natural observer and creator. In my most enlightened state, I consider all works of my life to be a part of my creative practice – all sentences I speak and movements I make, meals I prepare, pieces I collect/arrange to decorate my space and my body, letters I write, songs I sing, gifts I wrap, flowers I arrange and photos I choose to snap – it’s all an outward offering of something intentional within me – a yearning to express, to connect, to get closer to the center of who I am. 

My personal creative practice is deeply intertwined with the spiritual/self-care rituals I keep:

Morning Pages serve as a therapeutic daily writing practice and a beautiful tool in opening me up to make connections across all kinds of creative and personal pursuits. I love note-taking and outlining various inspirations and observations across my life. Processing this way helps me work through if/how I’d like to put the recorded pieces together and make something new from it. 
Another daily practice is making one small collage everyday. You may have noticed at this point that I am pretty enthralled with this idea of putting pieces together – collecting things that already exist, selecting them with care and intention and repurposing them to communicate something new (or at least in a different context). 

“Treasure-hunting” is a huge part of both my writing and collaging practices (and come to think of it, my whole “life” practice). Collaging serves as a chance for me to play with color and composition (two of my favorite toys!), but collaging is also a deeply meditative process for me. I’m always encouraging myself to place more attention on the process of making rather than the final piece itself. With that slight perspective shift, I truly believe that any process that takes care, time, and attention is a work of art. 
What aspects of your creative life do you feel most excited about right now?
I’m excited to find new ways of integrating and overlapping different art forms: pairing writing and collaging with my own photography, adding stitching and other textural elements to collages, making more things that I can wear or use practically, etc. I also have some dreams of collaborating with other artists and friends on projects! 
If folks want to see more about your work, how might they find you?
I share a lot of my musings and collages on my Instagram account @nicolerrizzo. I also have a website that gathers some of my odds and ends. I hope to more regularly share writing there this year! 

Thanks so much for getting to know me! ♡