Soldering On.

A cute misread, joining together, and art!

The very best fence in all of Portland!

A few days ago I was chatting with a friend about our industries, which have undergone profound changes in the past few years: advertising, marketing, and publishing. Most industries have, but we were talking about the ones we’ve been in most of our lives, creative careers that consisted of three-plus jobs, lots of hustle, and an ability to believe in our talents, pivot, and go again. These last few years, though, threw us for a loop. Throw in an election that threw all of us for a loop and almost every e-mail I’ve sent and received, business and personal, included the same question: how are you doing? It’s always a nice way to connect but this month, it felt essential.

“We’re doing okay,” my one friend answered. “We’re soldiering on.”

I read it, blinked, reread it, and smiled. I misread it, as I often do, in a way that produced whimsical results. In my version, his response was: “We’re soldering on.”

I immediately thought of another friend of mine who, in her twenties, was in a bad accident, broke bones, and was in a cast for months. At some point during her recovery, she decided to learn welding. It was brilliant, really, a wonderful skill, but the choice also made sense. For months she was still, waiting for her bones to fuse back together and now she wanted to fuse things for a living. Suddenly, I had the impulse to do the same thing.

Solder on.

Portland art! And as the kids say, Believe! And Be Live. Both very good things.

Soldering, pronounced “soddering” or “saw-der-ing", is defined as the process of joining metal parts together to form a bond. Instead of heating the metal pieces to join them, you put filler in the middle – solder – and heat that with a soldering iron. Once everything cools, the solder creates a strong and durable bond.

I imagined hundreds of women holding soldering irons, wearing goggles, and melting things together to form strong and durable bonds. Sturdy and long-lasting joints. Powerful and indestructible connections, communities, and spirits. In my mind, I saw women worldwide doing this work until the links between us were unbreakable. Connections traveled from community to community, across state lines, and from one country to another like arteries branching out from a beating heart. Living, thriving, pulsing bonds that cannot be broken.

Strong branches, reaching for the sky. Photo by Kirk Thornton on Unsplash.

Soldiering on, as my friend wrote, is apt. It’s the process of forging through things in hard times. We’ve all been doing this for years and will continue. But this new idea of “soldering on” gave me a lift. From that one phrase, a powerful image arose, one that recalls Rosie the Riveter, the strength in standing up and coming together. Solder as a bond, soldering as the act of bonding. It’s nice, right?

All of this made me think about some of my favorite women artists. These women are soldering on. They’ve always soldered on. And when I looked, I discovered that they all have exhibits of new work. It’s exciting! And it’s yet another branch, another connection, another strong bond, one artist to the next, one woman to the other, forging spirits and lifting hearts. On and on, soldering on.

Here are a few of the exhibits I’m excited about. As in, I’m planning my trips right now! Click the blue to learn more, and if they’re in your city, check them out:

Kara Walker: Fortuna and the Immortality Gardens, SFMOMA
I could write an entire post about Kara Walker’s work. I stumbled into her exhibit in Paris in 2008 and have been a fan of her work ever since. I’ve even traveled to see more of it. This exhibit, though, has me mentally booking a ticket to San Francisco. The exhibit is described as “a garden of automatons set amidst an energy field of gleaming black obsidian.” The exhibit also includes Fortuna, a seven-foot-tall prophetess who responds to each visitor with a printed fortune that comes out of her mouth. My heart quickens just thinking about it. A meditation on art and technology? Yes, please. And thank you.

Yayoi Kasuma: Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love, SFMOMA
I saw Kasuma’s Infinity Rooms at the Seattle Art Museum pre-pandemic and fell in love with her work. I love the title of this one and am sure it will be just as delightful. It’s described as a “universe of multicolored light,” and an “environment that is constantly in flux.” A gorgeous, colorful mirror of the times that will also probably make you giggle. Bonus!

Björk & Aleph: Nature Manifesto, Centre Pompidou, Paris
My heart leaped when I saw this one on social media. I’m not sure how long it’s happening, but I’d give anything to be immersed in an extinct and endangered animal soundscape while riding the iconic escalators at the Pompidou. I’ve been researching these animals for years to write the middle-grade series I’ve been working on, including listening to anything I could find. I’m sure what they’ve produced here is nothing short of miraculous. Can’t make it to Paris? Read their manifesto. It’s much needed.

Sophie Calle, Overshare, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Art is doing its thing! Sophie Calle’s first North American retrospective is happening at the Walker Center and it looks fantastic. I was introduced to her work at the French Pavillion at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and fell in love. In that piece, she was dumped by an e-mail that ended with the phrase “Take Care of Yourself.” She did that by asking one hundred and two women to interpret the letter in their own way. Some sang, some danced, some acted, and some commented, but it created an entire exhibit of truly personal, astounding work. This exhibit, Overshare, covers more than five decades of her work that’s autobiographical and uses photography, text, and film to tell her stories. She looks, unflinchingly, at the human condition, which makes us look, too.

Petey Seller’s tree in glorious bloom! And a little note for all of us.

Update: How are you doing? I’m giving it my all over here in the creating, applying, networking, and pivoting arenas in almost every area of my life. It’s why I haven’t pivoted here, yet, but it’s coming. Thanks for your patience! If you need heart, go to art. If you need evidence of magic, check out this descent of flickers who converged in my backyard while I wrote this. Hi Petey Sellers! He popped in to say hello. I hope you’re warm, writing, creating, and being. Thanks for being here! xo

Pee Wee brought a lot of joy to Queer Plants Cafe. He also really enjoyed his Americano! High-five to my sister for coffee adventures.