Hello everyone!!
How are you? I hope you’re having a wonderful Wednesday. I’m writing to you from my workspace here in Manhattan. My dear friend Simon is building me a big research desk in the other room, we’re blasting happy music and taking breaks for dancing. Well, I am taking the dance breaks, and he is patiently and lovingly supporting my antics as he always does. He also built me a beautiful bookcase, sturdy storage shelves in my closet, and yesterday he installed 8 special display shelves made by a carpenter in the Ukraine. Everything is coming along and I am feeling so positive today. Winter is my favorite season, my season to thrive, and I keep thinking about how all of these steps forward, slow as they seem, long as they took me to arrive at them, are preparing me for this coming winter, a time which may be one of the most important of my life.
What else is happening? So much is happening! One thing I’ve wanted to tell you about so much is our gallery exhibit at Pen & Brush.
My godmother, Patti Hudson curated an amazing group show which features her work throughout the massive gallery space. The show is called No Matter What, and opened on June 26, the day before my birthday.
The exhibit is on view now until September 6th and all of the work is for sale, save for for my contribution to the show - a vitrine installation featuring handwriting and images from influential women in my life.
My dear friend Jaclyn Jonet’s photography work is also featured, my non-profit partner Rebecca Foon’s watercolors and light boxes, and my reiki teacher Nana C. Deleplanque’s large scale paintings.
Here is an article about the show from AMNY: ‘No Matter What’: The unshakable pulse of Pen + Brush
The gallery is incredible in its full tilt support of artists, and 75% of the sales go directly to the artist, the remaining 25% supporting P+B.
This month, we’ve been hosting events to celebrate both this exhibit, and Pen & Brush itself as a non-profit organization with a rich history and deeply important mission.
“For over 131 years, Pen & Brush has been the only international non-profit organization providing a platform to showcase the work of professional emerging and mid-career women and gender expansive artists and writers to a broader audience.”
Here is a timeline of the full history and landmark moments of P&B
Last week we hosted karaoke (you might have seen videos on my Instagram - it was SO fun and will hopefully become a regular offering), and this week we will have Words & Music. If you are in NYC tomorrow, Thursday - August 28, please come by!!! 6-8pm <3 Here is more info about the readers and performers and how to RSVP. I will host the event and be joined by Jacquelyn Marie Gallo, Jaclyn Jonet, Joseph Keckler, Vasvi Kejriwal, Migwi Mwangi, and Anne Waldman. I hope you can come by!
Additionally, we will also have a closing reception event on September 5th which will include a performance by Golden, whose powerful solo exhibit, I made it home, is in the downstairs gallery at Pen & Brush. Here is info about that event and a place to RSVP.
If you’re in NYC! Please visit the gallery and come say hi. If you are not, please read about Pen & Brush and stay tuned for virtual/online workshops, events, and opportunities. <3
More soon!!! I have to go and head over to the Elizabeth Street Garden for a couple hours, but I have lots more to tell you. Please share any thoughts in the comments and tell me what you have been up to! Sending good thoughts to you all. <3 <3 <3
Have the most wonderful day!!!
Hi Jessie-I know you’re a cat lover so I just wanted to tell you about the amazing cat I just adopted. She’s seven and was confiscated ( the shelters words) from a hoarder and her prognosis was fair. I’ve had her about 5 weeks and she would spend the whole day eating playing and purring! I’m mostly posting this in case anyone is considering adopting a rescue dog or cat, don’t hesitate to, it will be one of the coolest things you can do!
This update feels like a love letter to creativity, community, and the quiet joy of building something meaningful, one shelf, one song, one shared moment at a time. Your workspace sounds like a sanctuary in motion, and the Pen & Brush exhibit is clearly pulsing with heart and history. I love how your words weave together art, friendship, and purpose with such tenderness. Wishing you a winter full of light, depth, and the kind of magic that only comes from showing up fully. Thank you for letting us walk beside you.