Welcome to SEE YOU—a companion for artists, thinkers, and analog lovers with ideas, inspiration, and reflections on living an intentional creative life.
Today I’ve got seven monthly mentions and recommendations for your creative practice. Join to follow along!
How was your July? Was it a whirlwind of highs and lows? In my external environment here in NYC, there were flash floods and heat waves and foodborne parasites and smoky air. Our earth is crying loudly, though she reminded us of her ever-present generosity as we ended July with the most glorious breezy weather.
In my creative practice, I grappled with ever-present feelings of doubt over where the world is going and subsequently where my post-tech career is going, craving a sense of clarity that seems eternally out of reach. The answer I keep returning to is that there is no correct answer, only a continual plodding forward.
What is there to do in this life, but to keep going on? To notice beauty and meaning in the world while relishing every extravagant and dull experience to the fullest degree?
I visited the Morgan Library on one of their free Friday evenings to check out their latest exhibit, Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions. The exhibit is divided into two parts—one focusing on early tarot decks from the 15th century, displayed in their gilded, painstakingly hand-drawn glory.
The other part shows a wide range of modern tarot art, including the famed Rider Waite Smith deck and works from women artists like Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Niki de Saint Phalle.
My favorite new discovery was Dorothy Iannone, an American visual artist who focused on female sexuality and ecstatic pleasure in her art. Her (Ta)rot Pack is loosely inspired by tarot to uplift everyday devotional acts, from teaching, cooking, or gathering with family. Fun fact: her partner, who is depicted in this deck, was Swiss artist Dieter Roth!
I love stories about sisters as a proud younger sister myself. Side note: have I told you about my older sister and how she won a James Beard award?!? For a book I got to illustrate, no less!
This month I read three contemporary novels about sisters—first Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, a book that I’d describe as the literary version of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I enjoyed the Michigan farm scenes more than the main love story flashbacks. This is the most “feel good” novel of the three I mention here, and (maybe relatedly?) the one that left the least impression on me!
Then I read Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach, a novel that uses the second person POV spectacularly. Here a younger sister addresses her older sister who dies when she’s a teenager, and all the morally questionable acts that happen in grief afterwards. Here are my digital garden notes on the book, if you don’t mind spoilers.
My favorite sister novel, a top contender for my favorite novel of the year, is Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. Here we have three sisters who are grieving a fourth sister who died a year before. Though each sister grieves in their own way, they all share similarities in their blindness to their faults and unwillingness to be honest with themselves. Coco Mellors depicts addiction so well—both the glitzy allure and its ugly downfall.
In 2020, father-son DJ duo St. James Joy started weekly social distancing dance parties on their block, St. James Place in Brooklyn. The streets grew full of masked people dancing, and now the block party tradition continues every year long after the pandemic.
Last weekend was my second year going to St. James Joy, and I had such a freakin’ blast. The dancing and people watching are top notch Brooklyn excellence! I loved spotting all the amazing dance battles and admiring people hustling their homemade cocktails and Knicks jerseys. Then I heartily danced until the soles of my feet screamed no more.
Printmaker Anastasia Inciardi is well known for her Mini Print Vending Machines. They’re all over NYC, and I was delighted to spot a special Moomin-themed machine at the New York Botanical Garden! I traded a dollar for two tokens at the cashier, inserted them in the vending machine, and got a surprise riso print in return.
For those living in the States, check if there’s a shop near you with an Inciardi Print machine to partake in the fun. Her prints are often exclusive to each shop location!
If you’re looking for writing inspiration that is decidedly not self-help—if, in fact, you’d rather remain lost and resist finishing or productizing anything—I recommend these two books, Drifts by Kate Zambreno and Opacities by Sofia Samatar.
I was first introduced to these books while reading Kate Zambreno’s afterword in Mieko Kanai’s novel Mild Vertigo. In her afterword, Kate writes of her long-standing correspondence with her writer friend Sofia. These letters are a way of understanding herself as reflected through literature, art, film, and all the other delicious matter that would go into commonplace books.
Both Drifts and Opacities feel like a series of artistic observations collected from two introspective writers. They are collected into books that are branded with a certain genre—Drifts is meant to be a novel, and Opacities is branded as a writing book—but these categorizations are loosely held.
I am still reading my way through Opacities, but I will share with you my notes on Drifts, which include many mentions of artistic inspiration that might lead to new rabbit holes.
After last month’s Kate Bush obsession, I found a young new artist that is giving me major Kate Bush vibes! Sarah Kinsley is an alt pop artist who is classically trained in piano and violin and studied music at Columbia University.
All the songs on her latest EP Fleeting are fantastic, but my favorite is the wistful and intimate “Lonely Touch.” I recommend watching the music video to enjoy the song with some incredible choreography.
During a brief upstate NY trip to celebrate my sister’s birthday, I came across this rock labyrinth on our property. I don’t think I’ve ever walked a private labyrinth, so I took my time to finish the entire path.
Walking a labyrinth is incredibly humbling. As I inched my way around step by step, I thought of the care it took to place each rock into the ground, a gift for future ambulists to peacefully move without pause. It is one of my favorite metaphors that teach me that there are no dead ends or wrong moves to make—there is only movement itself.
Speaking of labyrinths, I will be joining Kening Zhu’s upcoming Labyrinth Library season! I connected with the most wonderful creatives last season and I can’t wait to do it again, under Kening’s gentle, expansive guidance.
🍎 My fourth seasonal zine Autumn Practice (October-December 2026) is now available for preorder from my shop! Click through for the full cover reveal.
I will not be restocking these zines and I only order a few extra, so once these zines sell out, they’re gone. If you’d like to receive a zine, preordering is your best chance. To my lovely paid subscribers, remember you get a 10% discount!
🍎 I was delighted to guest on two podcasts over the past month. On Emily Hall’s Soil and Stars, we talk about how to live a devoted creative life and how we embrace seasonal living. On shea in the catskills, we talk about zine making and how to keep the creative process juicy and fruitful.
🍎 Call for submissions: I’m looking for SEE YOU readers who embrace the Quietly Public ethos by having their own website, blog, or digital garden away from social media. If that’s you, please submit your site and answer a few questions to be featured in upcoming newsletter issues!
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