PROJECTS > Daily Practice: Site-specific Quilling (ongoing)

At Kathy Osterman Beach #1
At Kathy Osterman Beach #1
Quilled cardstock on sand
September 19, 2020

With aid from Kathy Trumbull Fimreite and a cool kid named Max.

In August 2020, I dragged my hand-quilled paper onto a public beach and invited anyone who wandered by—or saw my Instagram posts—to join me in embedding spirals in the sand. Many beach-goers stopped to ask what we were doing. Many more came back several times to witness the growth and change of the piece. A few joined: my close friends Kathy and J No, artist Michael McGuire, a kid named Max and a lady named Maggie. There was pleasure and play and chatting, but there was also stillness and focus. It felt like sacred play.

The beach was an ideal site because it is a place where people already experience impermanence in an embodied way. Think about sandcastles that get washed away, the moving angle of the sun on the sand, the endless shifting of the waves.