It's a Book Birthday! /  by Anne Ylvisaker

Today’s the day! It’s a book birthday! ONE ALLEY SUMMER, out now. Friendship, the creative spirit, growing up, summer…I ate a whole lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the back step over the last ten years while channeling the kid-world of summer in a city alley. I can’t wait for you to feel the rhythms of summer as you meet Phee and her friends. Ask for it wherever books are sold, and at your local library! 


Please celebrate with me at one of these events: 

Launch party! May 19 3-5pm Open Ground Studios, Seaside, CA

Pacific Grove Library Friends 50 Year Celebration May 18 10-12, Jewell Park

Book signing at Olivia and Daisy Books in Carmel Valley - early June. Stay tuned for details

Minnesota friends! Big Hill Books in Minneapolis September 14, 2pm! 

OPEN GROUND Art Show Opening Soon! /  by Anne Ylvisaker

A highlight of my 2023 was joining Open Ground Studios in Seaside as a resident artist. I wanted to see what happened if I had wall space to paint surfaces larger than my desk. It was an exhilarating and more physical experience of art-making than I’d had before. And just as exciting, I became part of a rich community of artist explorers. 

On Friday January 12, from 5-7, nine of us from this community will celebrate the opening a show of our collective work at the Margorie Evans Gallery at Sunset Center in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. If you are in the area, I hope you will join us!

See art! Buy art! Eat cake! October 7&8 /  by Anne Ylvisaker

I saw these boots in San Francisco. I came back to Open Ground Studios and painted them. Come see pink boots and lots more of my art and art by the rest of the resident artists of Open Ground Studios as part of the 2023 Monterey County Artists Studio Tour. I’ll be in my studio from 11-3:30 Saturday October 7 and 11-5 Sunday October 8. Plus, there will be cake every hour on the hour to celebrate Open Ground’s ten year anniversary. Buy art! Eat cake!

Practicing Hope /  by Anne Ylvisaker

A year and more ago I was finding solace from the political turmoil in the world by tuning in to the physical world around me, surprised by the small but significant delights I found there. Taking these moments back to my desk, the act of writing and drawing about them soothed me, gave me hope. The world goes on. 

After my show of poems and paintings Surprised by Delight was up in a gallery for the spring and summer, I didn't stop noticing, but I fell away from the practice of writing and drawing about these moments. 

Now, in the spring of 2020, as we live in an uncertain present, I am finding tremendous comfort in the daily act of noticing, turning words around, noodling with pen and paint. I am surprised every day when new delights appear, and when words rise up to greet them. I have hope. 

 

Words the Birds Say:

 

cheery up cheery up

luckluckluckluck

we        see        you  we        see        you

cheery up up up

 

Surprised by Delight /  by Anne Ylvisaker

SURPRISED BY DELIGHT, a selection of my poems and sketches, will soon be on exhibit in the Gabilan Gallery at the CSUMB Salinas Center for Art and Culture!

If you are in the area any time between May and August, I hope you'll come take a look.

The opening will be Friday May 3 from 5-9 pm as part of the center's First Friday Celebration. It's a family friendly event with refreshments and lots of acitivities going on. 

CSUMB Salinas Center for Art and Culture is at 1 Main Street, Salinas, California.