November 3, 2025:

I feel like I blinked, and I’m already over halfway through my first semester of my senior year. I’ve spent most of my days working in the studio on developing pieces for my senior show in April.

Because my classes are much more open-ended than in previous years, I’m really able to explore subjects/topics more deeply than I have had enough time to do before. I’ve been reading a lot of text about the gendered aspects of domestic spaces, specifically in Western culture. How bodies interact with furniture, and what happens when you change the function of domestic furniture pieces, like a chair, to need to be supported by the body instead of the body being supported by it. How does craft fit within it all? What’s the difference between an object and a thing? When does object become body, body become thing? They are kinda vague, but directed lines of thought. I’m excited to keep exploring them.

These thoughts have manifested in wearable furniture pieces. I’m still working on coming up with a way of referring to these pieces, but using “homebodies” as a filler word for now. The homebodies I’m creating are made from fabric sourced from my grandma’s collection, weighted with sand, and have an enamel seat. They hang off the body in a way where you are aware of its presence, and its weight almost becomes comforting. I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring different ways to assemble the pieces together and mixing patterns together.

Though most of my time has been spent in the studio working, I still make sure to get out and have fun with friends and family in the real world for a bit!

My Friend Emma came to visit me for a weekend to see my new place and catch up! I showed her around the studio, went for drinks and oysters, and went to the museum to see the Liz Collins show, where I have a piece!

My mom, grandpa, and Calvin came to visit for parents’ weekend in mid-September. I had so much fun showing Calvin around all the different studio spaces and letting him try out the equipment. He digitally modeled on my computer and then we 3D printed them, attended a stop motion workshop hosted by my friend Millie, visited the nature lab, and met up with my friend Vicky, whom I met at my workshop in Maine this summer, to look through the Liz Collins show!

I went on a troll-hunting adventure with my sophomore year roommate, Lee. There is a Dutch artist who has been making giant troll sculptures with found materials all over the world, and 3 new ones were placed in Rhode Island this summer, so we had to go and check them out!

My friend Brooke also came to visit me from Baltimore for a quick trip! We met in 2018, the summer before freshman year of high school at Interlochen. We’ve managed to keep in touch with each other and try to squeeze in a trip to see each other at least once a year. It had been over a year since we had seen each other, so we just spent most of our time together catching each other up on what’s been going on in our lives and just spending some good quality time together!

Every Wednesday, we have also been going to Dollar Burger Night at the bar a few blocks over from the studio. It’s the perfect mid-week pick-me-up! It’s super fun because most of the jewelry seniors go, and now we’ve been getting the juniors to join as well! We sit in the same booth each time, and we love people watching, as most of the people who are at the bar are other RISD students. Wednesday has quickly become my favorite night of the week!

Of course, with every October comes Halloween! This year I had two costumes, one for each weekend. My first costume matched Amelia's. We made paper-mache bird heads of ourselves if we were birds; mine had blue glasses. We got so many compliments at the RISD artist ball. On actual Halloween, I decided to be a sandwich. I’ve always wanted to be a sandwich, so I figure this year is the year! It was also a hit! I hosted a little drinks and cookies at my place before we went out dancing, and it was a lovely time!

The weather has been getting chillier, so last night we decided to take a quick trip to Beaver Tail Lighthouse before it gets too cold to go to the ocean. We lost track of time in the studio, so we ended up getting there right at sunset, but it was so beautiful! Amelia, Jameson, Lily, Nova, Frank, and I all went and just explored the ocean cliffside until it was too dark to see. It can be easy to cut out adventures and activities when I get so caught up working in the studio, but I always feel so recharged after them. I need to remind myself to stay present and allow myself to break and spend time with those I love. Time moves so quickly, and I have to remember to slow down and enjoy it.