You know what they say about making plans…

Just after a major recommitment to living in Mexico and continuing Art House Oaxaca through Spring of 2020, we’ve unexpectedly had to shut down operations due to a large hotel going up right next door and our landlord deciding to sell the property.

It has been a heartbreaking experience to have to close before we got to finish up our roster of workshops.

It’s been even sadder to pack up and downsize all of the beautiful art, textiles and furnishings we used to decorate the rooms and say goodbye to a creative dream that nurtured so many.

That the closure of Art House is disappointing to everyone who was planning to come for a workshop (or hoped to return for another!) makes this change even harder to bear.

A giant thank you to all of the courageous creative women (and a few cool guys) who travelled all the way to Oaxaca from all over the world, bravely entered those big, turquoise doors at Art House, and dared to do their creative work. With your artistry leading, all of you took away and left something beautiful behind in Mexico.

Me and the Art House dogs are in a temporary location in search of our next home and adventure…back in the USA. We are unsettled, but doing our best. One foot (or paw) in front of the other.

The Completion of a Cycle?

Just over 7 years ago, I moved from San Francisco, CA and started living in Oaxaca, Mexico full time, as a kind of experiment. I wrote a detailed (one could say, oversharing account of that journey in my memoir, Sketchbooks.

While I knew my time in Mexico was drawing to a close, I didn’t expect (or want) it to be so abrupt — like getting kicked out before I was ready.

Where Shall We Go Next?

I’d love your ideas on where we might repatriate ourselves back in the USA. I’ve been homesick for friends and family — who are scattered all over the USA and Canada.

We adore places that have:

• Walkable small towns (or a city neighborhood with a high walk score)
• Trees and greenery
• Sunlight
• Green and open spaces for hiking, biking
• Warmer weather (I’m from Chicago… brrrrrr)
• Book stores, great libraries
• Bulk grocery shopping (for moving toward zero waste)
• Dog-friendly spaces (and dare I say, cafes where you can bring a dog)
• International airport within 100 miles
• cultural creative friends to meet (and dare I say, date)
• weavers: weaving the social fabric project

Right now, I am thinking about Phoenix, AZ, and Albuquerque, NM (and small towns around them) because they both share one, most important criteria: I have at least one close friend there already. So that’s a big draw. I’d really like to go somewhere where I already know someone.

What do you think? Please share your relocation ideas (or virtual hugs, please!) in the comments.

And thank you always, for reading and sharing my work.