But creating every day, with every ounce of energy I have, has kept me finding a path that returns me back home to myself when I feel far away. It holds me safe when everything else feels like chaos.
So even when I write about guitar straps and question my own sensitivity to everyone's positioning, I also listen to the hawks and check in with my heart and know that ART IS GOOD. At it's very essence art is healing, love, and connection.
Leathersage.com is more than a platform for my work. It's where I share my story (which I will keep unpacking.) And it holds my poetry, thoughts, and reflections.
Read MoreEach of these four ladies maintain a beautiful strength that is - so far as I see it - braced by a foundation of deep experience, healing, motivation, passion, empathy, and love.
These women embody what I hope to stand for in my creations.
All are made with elk and deer leather that is harvested by me and my family once a year in Montana. The harvest feeds us (with clean, organic, sustainable meat), and allows us a reconnection with this earth. We use as much of the animal as we possibly can, and leave any remaining parts for others along the food chain.
The majority of hunters leave hides behind, as they're heavy to pack out and a nuisance to process.
I keep 100% of our hides, and I clean and prepare them myself.
Reminding myself that it's okay to slow down. To return home and find my way back to my todo list. To be gentle on myself. To let my hands make their way through my leather studio. To release and move through, by means of creation.
To take time to smell orchids and find beauty through the shaded places. --
Thanks to all of you for sticking with me through my waves of productive creation and not-so-productive isolation. My heart is grateful.
May we all be kind to our own garden 🌱
from the back porch
hot tub, on the dead
end road at the base
of a Montana valley,
where I tried to peek
through holes in mother's
black blanket that masks
death from the living,
only catching glances of
the world behind the sky,
and never feeling closer
to gravity's bare ground.
Taken after a night in the desert under a new moon. I got barely any sleep and spent a lot of time with the stars. In growing up with the dark skies of Montana, a full spread of stars always has a way of bringing me back home to myself.
All the leather I use is harvested and cleaned by myself, or my family, in Montana. Final products are handcrafted at my home studio in San Diego.
Read Moreto become
unbreakable.
My shoulder
blades shake
when I think of
white windmills,
sailing stiff
on purpose.
How do I spin
strongly through
the wind and
still stay soft?
two feet from my father
and ask him where
his heart belongs.
With two free hands
he embraces the wind,
breathes in with closed eyes
and
Last week I travelled to Montana for opening weekend of hunting season. The wild sage on our hunting grounds extends to the far reaches of our land, and it's smell welcomes me home every time. This latest return to my homeland inspired me to change the name of the art I've so lovingly created.
Read MoreIs NeckLeather truly "Sustainable?" I’ve asked the questions, and I’ve done my research. I believe in this product and the energy behind it’s creation. I would never want to invest my time and livelihood into developing something that is damaging or draining, and I genuinely feel that the hunting my family and I participate in is a sustainable, positive, and honorable impact on both the land and lifestyle we love so much.
Read MoreI turned to her and I grinned, “I'll buy them all.” Tears came to her eyes, and she got up out of her chair to hug me. When she let go, I thanked her over and over. She wouldn’t accept a free NeckLeather, because she “believes in my work and my heart” and wanted me to sell them instead. She repeated to me how much her seven year old daughter needed this sale. Then she practically jumped back into my arms and hugged me again, but this time squeezing me much tighter and holding on for a few seconds longer.
Read More
