This 12 layer screenprint was made in late December, 2025 after attending a concert at Shoe Tree Listening Room. The band consisted of a gaggle of life-long musicians in the Missouri Ozarks. I wanted to include all six musicians, but also achieve the motion as they maneuvered their space and instruments. I hand drew each member in a variety of positions and began piecing them together. This quickly became a bigger composition than I thought my exposure unit and expertise could handle. At this point I almost gave up, but decided to piece two images together into one composition. This process proved to be challenging and the product a Christmastime miracle.
As I added each new layer I thought about “cousins”. Many of us have a slew of them, some chosen, some given. It was interesting how each phase in the process came back to the theme of cousins for me. Each new layer was like a cousin entering the room, bringing their energy. Each new color was like a new toy brought to the gathering by our cousins ready to play the day away. With each color of paper came a different house; the dynamic changing whether we be at Grandma’s or Aunt Sharon’s or cousin Tracy’s. As I got closer to the final product I even thought about that one cousin. I thought, “Oh no one is going to like this one.” And then I realized, we’re all someone’s favorite cousin. As I completed Cousins I decided: We should all be cousins. We should all be walking into every space with our toys and our voice, ready to engage and love and expand. Because in the end, we’re all just cousins showing up to the party looking for a little laughter and a lot of connection.
