Peace in America, Piece by Piece. Possibly with Pie.
Because everything is better with pie.
For the last five years I’ve toured my “Puzzle and Pie Happy Hours”, community-building events inspired by the jigsaw puzzles I produce from my own paintings.
As an artist equally invested in social practice and the promotion of creative problem solving jigsaw puzzles have offered a surprising avenue for connection and creativity in our divided political space…there’s something very safe about puzzles and pie that allows people to open their minds, souls, hearts to one another.
These workshops bring diverse opinions to the table and also offer the experience of self-expansion/efficacy, mindful engagement with others and Others, and, of course, the neurologically-driven joy of creative problem-solving.
I lead participants through a series of mindfulness and pie-chart cultural fluency exercises in tandem with the puzzle assembly, and, yes, the consumption of pie…because I do believe everything is better with pie…The puzzles themselves involve particular aesthetic and neurological touchstones and have been made in continuous consultation with various clinical and linguistic psychologists interested in combining art, self-efficacy, mindfulness, and cultural fluency. Universities, hospitals, summer schools, and libraries have all hosted me for these events and I’ve served as a specialist for doctoral/clinical work.
While I’m now anchored in Massachusetts I’ve spent most of my life has been as an internationally exhibiting artist. I’ve held visiting faculty appointments at Harvard and Wellesley and have been a Rockefeller fellow, a Fulbright fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, etc. My films have shown at the BFI, the Bundestag, SXSW, the Walker Art Center, etc.
