“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
-Albert Einstein

Life is for complicating. Those who have found the most success have been willing to take risk after risk – never knowing whether each would pan out or fail miserably – and what’s more (and perhaps more important) they have been willing to screw up. Often. Making mistakes is an essential part of life and the human experience. We do not know all the answers, but we can pursue them if we are willing to be wrong, go wrong, do wrong. This is how we learn.

Jarrett Key joined us in August from Providence, Rhode Island. At the time, he had just closed a group show in Chelsea and was in the midst of his last week of another group in Tribeca. He told us that he’d been enjoying picking wildflowers all summer as well as painting them outdoors. His paintings have featured bucolic scenes and African Americans surrounded by flowers. This new part of his practice in which he picks flowers has made him rethink land stewardship and ownership and has prompted him to invite others to come along and pick flowers with him while he paints them in oils. To hear more about this and other work, listen to the complete interview.

Emily Skillings spoke with us in November. She told us that the last few years have prompted her to often say in emails, “I hope you’re doing ok in the strangeness of now,” a phrase she says has been in her mind often of late. A teacher, she has found this work and the resilience of her students very grounding throughout this difficult period. In terms of her own writing, this time has diverted her mental energy for that work and she is just now coming back to a place where she is moving forward with new poems. To hear more including live readings of her work, listen to the complete interview.