The glorious JAnice and her hand-knit sweater.
I met Barb in 2005 at one of my very first art fairs in Ann Arbor, MI. Poppy became my first, best, and favorite gallery to work with! I had been to Columbia before and was glad to have a connection to it again. However, at the time I had no idea my path would someday lead me to living in Missouri just a couple hours away.
Hannibal has become a little arts community drawing people working in all kinds of mediums from big cities all over the country. The folks who land here all have one thing in common: they fall in love with the old houses and buildings and have a need to make one or two or three of those place their own! The renovations made to formerly condemned or maybe just forgotten spaces has turned some of these buildings into works of art themselves.
The studio in the house that Janice and Joachim (re)built.
My focus is on the garden. Every bit of lawn I see as potential veggie, flower or fruit plots. We’ve put in a lot of native plants as well – including hazelnuts and paw paws! Plants and natural themes have always been a major inspiration in my work, but outside of the studio, or really, just downstairs from my studio, I am particularly interested in where the plant world intersects my taste buds.
Having lived for years in cities with wonderful restaurants, I never thought I could adjust to a town without Indian food! But in those cities, I worked all the time and ate out all the time because I never had time to cook. Now I cook all the time. My Swiss boyfriend eats only the crustiest of breads and I’m proud to say I’ve mastered it. I make my own paneer and naan when I crave Indian, fresh mozzarella to go with those heirloom tomatoes we’re growing, sorbets from local fruits, homemade pastas, and every pie crust is all butter. Special occasions get an entire day or two devoted to cooking for a single dinner (eight hours in the kitchen yesterday!), and amongst my friends, I am the dessert queen.
So though I never knew I wasn’t a city girl, it took me moving to this little river town to find out. It’s a wonderful and growing little community here and if you’re ever in town, I’d love to show it to you. Poppy field trip, anyone?!