Hello friends,
My unofficial announcement last week is now official. I’ve been selected to receive an Individual Artists Program grant through the city of Chicago (DCASE). It’s a pinch-me-moment, as I cannot even begin to tell you how many grants I’ve applied for in the past for various opportunities here and there, to no avail, and I wasn’t sure if the project I applied for would be considered worthy to the committee.
I’ll be using the funds to have a new website made. One where I can bring all the things and all the places you find me online under one umbrella and with my actual name instead of my ex-married name. One that will allow me to begin establishing a more professional presence in the art world and begin applying for other opportunities that I’ve been hesitating over not having a website that reflects me and my current focus.
“Don’t disqualify yourself before you even try. Let the jury decide” ~me talking to me, but maybe you need to hear it too.
I learned a lot through this process about patience and perseverance. Lessons that I seem to have to repeat every few years, and it reminds me of all the things I’ve managed to achieve in the past because I didn’t disqualify myself. My philosophy has always been “let the jury decide” when it comes to applying for things that I don’t feel qualified for, and it has served me well over the years.
It is how I became an exhibiting artist at the American Craft Exhibition1 for several years and how I got the opportunity to be in my dream exhibition—SOFA Chicago2. It is how I won the 2018 Racine Art Museum fellowship3 after another eligible artist told me that I wouldn’t be selected without an MFA. In all of these things, I made a conscious decision to let the jury decide if my work was good enough, with absolutely no degree to put behind my name, let alone an MFA.
But it is a philosophy that is easy to lose sight of when the rejection letters and life begins piling up. Easy to begin doubting yourself after so many losses on the personal and professional front. Easy to begin thinking maybe the best years are actually behind you after an 8-year stint of health and life crises like the ones I shared with you all a few days ago4.
I am very much still in the rebuilding stage of getting my life and career stabilized again. And it is very easy at this age and stage of it all to believe the lie that it is too late for me. That booger of an inner-critic message that tries to keep us safe from the feeling of rejection by convincing us it is not worth trying.
But listen to me very carefully here…if your heart yearns for something more. Something different. Something that seems like it is just not meant for you, because—insert whatever your version of too late is here: too old, too difficult, too inexperienced—I’m here to tell you it isn’t true. Maybe you won’t achieve the greatest version of whatever it is you’re yearning for. But as the old saying goes, “Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Maybe you won’t get that grant or that exhibit or that gallery, if that is what your heart is yearning for. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll catch a few of those stars.
With love and gratitude,
Crystal Marie
P.S. One more officially official announcement—after more than a decade since last time I was there, I am returning to Art and Soul, Portland to teach in the spring. See the schedule below.
January 4, 11, 18, 25 and February 1, 2026 — A month of Sundays: 5-week Collage series; Noon-2pm CST, online — details here
April 22-27, 2026 — Visual Alchemy: making your mark in mixed media collage; Red Thread Retreat, hosted by Lesley Riley — details here — SOLD OUT
May 9th, 2026 — World Collage Day: A Collage Workshop—details here—SOLD OUT
June 5-7, 2026 — Alchemy Cloth; Studio Joy, Kansas, City MO hosted by Amanda Jolley — details here
August 6, 2026 — Discovering Your Voice in Collage; Studio 11 by Vivi Magoo; Phoenix, AZ — details here
August 7, 2026 — Collage on Cloth; Studio 11 by Vivi Magoo; Phoenix, AZ — details here
August 8, 2026 — Paper and Layers in Encaustic; Studio 11 by Vivi Magoo; Phoenix, AZ — details here
October 2-4, 2026 — Material Alchemy: Developing Layers of Meaning and Magic in Mixed Media; Bellissima Art Studio, Port Orchard, WA hosted by Kathie Vezzani — details here
January 14th: Collage on Canvas (Live online)
February: The Book of Alchemy: Working with textiles in Mixed Media and Collage
(A 4-week intensive LIVE ONLINE)March 5th-7th: Boxes, Nichos, and Reliquaries: Sculptural Assemblage Containers with Encaustic Wax, Chicago, IL
March 15th: Introduction to Momigami: The Japanese Art of Kneaded Paper, Art and Soul; Portland, OR
March 16th: Boro Collage and Konjac Glue, Art and Soul; Portland, OR
March 18th & 19th: Nests, Vessels, and Pods: Crafting Paper and Mixed-Media Sculpture, Art and Soul; Portland, OR
April 1st: Paper and Layers with Encaustic (Live Online)
April 9th: Paper and Layers with Encaustic, Chicago, IL
April 10th: Optional Additional Studio Day
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