School’s out for summer

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A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.
– George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist

Ready for summer in a knotted and rolled-up denim shirt over a bright yellow bandeau and skirt.

Ready for summer in a knotted and rolled-up denim shirt over a bright yellow bandeau and skirt. Neutral platforms elongate my short legs. A roomy handbag can carry statement sunglasses and tubes of sunscreen.

My two kids’ last day of school is this Friday at noon. Every year, for the past seven years, I’ve picked them up and we’ve gone to various parks for a picnic with other families to celebrate the end of the school year. The kids play in the park, and the parents – usually the moms – marvel at how quickly the year has gone by. Eight years later, I am amazed at how one year my son and his friends were these little boys running around on the playground and now they – or least my son – are dabbing rubbing alcohol on the pimples that have sprouted on their faces in the mornings. Now they dash out the front door to walk to school part way by themselves and then at a designated spot meet up with their friends before reaching their destination of middle school. Whereas I once vowed never to let them walk to or from school by themselves, my son, who is finishing up seventh grade, routinely walked from middle school to his old elementary school to pick up his sister after school this past year. And I greet them – no longer anxiously, as I did in the beginning of the school year – when they come home.

People have told me that the years from middle school through high school accelerate. I believe it, but I have witnessed those years flying by since at least fourth grade, if not third. Raising kids is exhausting. It ages you, and miraculously it keeps you young, which is an interesting phenomenon if you are an older parent. One day you wish they (along with their slovenliness) were ready to leave home, and then the next day you hug them hard – and they surprise you by hugging you back – and wish they would stay their age forever (as long as you stayed your current age forever, too).

Sun-kissed accessories: Anthropologie ring, Lava 9 earrings (Berkeley, CA), and April Cornell necklace.

Sun-kissed accessories: Anthropologie ring, Lava 9 earrings (Berkeley, CA), and April Cornell necklace.

I have a few friends whose daughters are finishing up their senior year in high school. Both babysat our kids and we’ve known them for a number of years. I actually get verklempt when I think of them moving on because I know I’ll be that parent soon enough. And I know that moment will come before I can ever be prepared for such a time. When my son or daughter tell me that this day or that event went by too quickly, I let them know that they haven’t seen anything yet in terms of life whooshing by. So I tell them not to ever tell me that they’re bored, because if they do, it’s a shame and it’s their fault because they control what they do with their time, regardless of whether I am dragging them to a place or event they’d rather not be. Life is too short to be bored.

On that note, it’s summer, and that’s the time to really get an education, so that when our kids go off to college, they have learned more than what goes on in the classroom. I remember someone telling me about Ansel Adams’ father letting him explore the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco for the duration of the event in 1915 (which was open to the public from February to December, mind you). Now that’s an education. Hopefully, this summer will be the beginning of really taking advantage of education outside of the classroom. I don’t have too many summers left to do this with my kids before they move away and take hold of their own education and adventures. I’m getting verklempt again.

A summer outfit isn't complete without a neutral handbag with brass paillettes and soaring (but comfortable) platform sandals.

A summer outfit isn’t complete without a neutral handbag with brass paillettes and soaring (but very comfortable) platform sandals.

Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers, and Millenials – oh my!

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I just want to show society what people born after 1960 think about things… We’re sick of stupid labels, we’re sick of being marginalized in lousy jobs, and we’re tired of hearing about ourselves from others.
– Douglas Coupland, Canadian novelist, interview with the Boston Globe, 1991, about his novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

I finally found a pair of pajamas that I wanted to wear for day and evening wear.

I finally found a pair of pajamas that I wanted to wear for day and evening wear.

I read an online article today on the Pew Charitable Trust’s recent study and its conclusion that Generation X’ers were the hardest hit by this past recession compared to the four other age groups that were also examined. Gen X’ers – also dubbed the slacker and the Boomerang Generation – have been saddled with student loans and credit card debt, although I’m sure a lot of Generation Y or Millenials are in the same situation. I looked up the time periods for the different generational groups because beyond Baby Boomers I don’t know Generations X and Y from Adam. Myriad sources differ vastly on the start and end years, which only adds to my generational confusion. Therefore, I’m relying on the Pew Internet and American Life Project’s delineations because I’m familiar with their studies and I reference their research in my work now and then. So according to the Pew Research Center: Older Baby Boomers (1946-1954), Younger Baby Boomers (1955-1964), Gen X (1965-1976), and Gen Y (1977-1992).

Gold jewelry with pajamas: Kate Peterson necklace (El Cerrito, CA), Carmela Rose reclaimed vintage earrings, Alkemie cuff (LA), rings by In God We Trust (NYC) and Sundance.

Gold jewelry with pajamas: Kate Peterson necklace (El Cerrito, CA), Carmela Rose reclaimed vintage earrings, Alkemie cuff (LA), rings by In God We Trust (NYC) and Sundance.

It never made sense to me to define any generation within a span of nearly 20 years because of the broad spectrum of political and cultural changes that occur in that time frame and the different impact of those events and movements on children and adults. I associate Baby Boomers with stability, one-company careers, big house and two cars in the suburbs, and two-week or more summer vacations. In fact, they were the young adults navigating through upheavals such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. It’s important to divide the generation into Younger and Older Baby Boomers because they grew up differently. The Silent Generation (1937-1945), which grew up in the aftermath of the Great Depression and endured WWII and the Korean War, worked to overcome those hardships and establish the suburban lifestyle that their Younger Baby Boomers would enjoy and expect when they became adults. While I never really thought of myself as a Baby Boomer, as a Young Baby Boomer, I could relate to having those aspirations. And even though I wanted to be a writer since I was a girl and have a career, independence, and travel, I realize that I expected to follow The Brady Bunch path. I just needed to get my degree, travel, work hard, and then get married, raise a family, and drive that station wagon into that two-story house’s garage.

Add a different Japanese print with this textile purse to the ensemble.

Add a different Japanese print with this textile purse to the ensemble.

Long before Douglas Coupland wrote Generation X in 1991, the photographer Robert Capa coined the term to describe the twentysomethings who grew up post-WWII and were subjects of a photo-essay that was published in 1953. It’s not quite the time frame that we think of today as being Generation X. Regardless, some put Generation X starting as early as 1961. Really though, is there that much of a difference between 1962 and 1965, which is the year that David was born and also the year that the Pew Research Center marks as the beginning of the Gen X generation? As much as he gives me a hard time about being older than he, there’s little difference – musical tastes aside. There’s a big difference, however, between someone born in 1965 and someone born in 1984, which is the span that The Harvard Center defines as Generation X. My family, friends, and acquaintances born in the 1960s are, for the most part, hard-working and earned the fruits of their labor. David will complain about co-workers, born after 1980, who are listening to their iPods with earplugs, clicking out of Google Maps when their managers walk by their cubicles. That’s the description we’ve come to associate with Gen X’ers. It’s not me and it’s not David. And to be fair, it’s not the majority of people born within those years.

Japanese-inspired print, chocolate burn-out shawl, and shiny bronze pumps.

Japanese-inspired print, chocolate burn-out shawl, and shiny bronze pumps.

But back to the article’s study: while I don’t think of myself as a Gen X’er, I will say that perhaps one trait that I do share with Gen X’ers is a smidgen of disillusionment with certain adages, such as good prevails over evil and hard work pays off. This may be a trait that spans generations because cynicism and disillusionment are everywhere. That said, despite the rockiness of the past five years, I remain hopeful that most of the time good prevails over evil and most of the time hard work will pay off.  Sometimes I feel as if on one level I’m no different from my mother; I’m just as exhausted at the end of the day as she, who picked grapes in the summertime and packed oranges in the wintertime. Perhaps I am not better off than my parents, depending upon how you define “better off,” as many experts tell us is the case. To be sure, my mother lived a harder, more physically demanding life than I do. But I also have many memories of her laughing and gossiping as she and her fellow rummy players sat around the card table in our family room on Sunday afternoons, with the sound of Louis Prima’s trumpet sputtering from our huge stereo console speakers. Those memories make me realize that it’s not all one way or all the other way. We are shaped by the world around us and hardwired at birth, which makes each of us unique. Whether we have a lot of money or not, whether we have a lot of time or not – which to me is much more precious than money – and whether we’re Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers, or Millenials, we can make decisions, and continue to make decisions, to define who we are and to determine the quality of our lives.

In celebration of Walt Whitman

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I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet, in a letter to Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist, 21 July 1855

No stars, but red, white, and blue stripes - and classic denim.

No stars, but red, white, and blue stripes – and classic denim.

Who didn’t read Walt Whitman’s poetry when they were in high school? As unsophisticated as I was in high school and despite English teachers “teaching” Whitman as a poet whom they had to interpret for us students, I still appreciated his poetry back then and appreciate it even more now. Precisely because on one level he didn’t need to be interpreted, especially when it came to poems as expansive and full of realism as “Song of Myself,” which was included in Leaves of Grass:

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

At a time when we read so many poems in archaic language or poems that rhymed or were contained by strict forms – such as iambic pentameter – it was refreshing to read Whitman’s free verse. His boldness appealed to me as a shy teenager. He spoke to all of us and he embraced us all. The poems I most remember him for were the ones that our teacher exposed us to – both about Lincoln: “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d” and “O Captain! My Captain!”

Today is Whitman’s birthday. Celebrate our great American poet, who was born in 1819 on this day, by reading one of his poems aloud.

Silver accessories include architectural earrings from Lava 9 (Berkeley, CA), necklace from Wyler's (Portland, ME), Sundance stack of rings, and double band from In God We Trust (NYC).

Silver accessories include architectural earrings from Lava 9 (Berkeley, CA), necklace from Wyler’s (Portland, ME), Sundance stack of rings, and double band from In God We Trust (NYC).

Post script: As I thought about Whitman, my mind started wandering and I asked myself if there wasn’t a fictional high school in a classic television show that bore his name. Walt Whitman High School in Los Angeles was the setting for the famous history classroom – Room 222, a comedy-drama that ran from September 1969 to January 1974. I looked it up on Google and then listened to the television show’s theme song, which took me back to my childhood. I didn’t watch reruns of it; my sisters and I watched it every Friday evening, after The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, and before The Odd Couple and Love, American Style. What a blockbuster line-up. Those were the days. Watching Room 222 back then, that’s what I thought high school was going to be – a thought-provoking place where teachers and the other adults there were passionate about wanting students to make the world a better place once they left. At that time, it made sense that the focus was on an African-American history teacher, played by Lloyd Hanes, supported by an idealistic student teacher (remember Karen Valentine?), the compassionate guidance counselor, and the supportive principal. Not that I can remember too much about the topics covered – and I’m sure many were over my head – but the show grappled with political and human rights issues. That an episode, which aired in 1971, dealt with anti-gay harassment is pretty amazing for its time. We’ve come a long way, and yet we still have a long way to go. But bringing this blog entry back to Whitman the poet and “Song of Myself” seems fitting and comes full circle. Whitman spoke for us all, as we should, too:

Agonies are one of my changes of garments,
I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person,
My hurts turn livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.

Happy Birthday, Walt Whitman!

Red, white, and denim, with architectural elements.

Red, white, and denim, with architectural elements.

Vintage love: antique document holder necklace

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She’s a hypnotist collector
You are a walking antique
– Bob Dylan, American musician and singer-songwriter, from She Belongs To Me

The cut-out patterned back of a retro-inspired jacket from D'Jour Floral.

The cut-out patterned back of a retro-inspired jacket from D’Jour Floral.

Across the street from Fat Apple’s Restaurant in El Cerrito is a store called D’Jour Floral (7512 Fairmount Avenue, El Cerrito, 525.7232). I have never gone in the store, though every time I see it I think to myself, I should check it out. A few weeks ago, after Mother’s Day breakfast, I ventured in for only a few minutes. Nobody else in our family wanted to go inside, so I took a quick inventory and made a mental note to return.

The following Sunday, after meeting my Monday Mom’s group for breakfast at Fat Apple’s, I ventured in again and this time I had the luxury of wandering around the shop. As one neighbor described it, there’s a lot of kitsch. It is a confusing store – floral shop, new vintage-inspired clothing, vintage items, and, okay, a lot of kitsch. But for those of us who love a good vintage hunt, I rolled up my sleeves and examined everything on the walls and in the display cases. That’s when I found Vivian.

Antique sterling silver document holder necklace.

Antique sterling silver document holder necklace.

When I asked to see this unusual sterling silver very thin case, the older woman, who was the owner, said, “Oh, you want to see Vivian.” The name was engraved on the piece. It was lightweight in my palm. It was intricate and in incredible shape (save for two dents in the bottom corners), and it looked like it came from the Victorian era. There are no markings and it is unsigned. The owner told me it was made in the 1880s and was used to store documents. She told me it belonged to a woman who had come through Ellis Island and had kept her important papers inside. I had this romantic vision of this woman coming from some Eastern European country and making her way out West. Do I believe the owner of the store? Perhaps it belonged to a relative of the person who had sold it to the owner and told her this story. I do want to believe it. I went home and looked up on the Internet variations “antique sterling silver document holder necklace,” but I didn’t come up with anything that looked like Vivian. I saw vintage filigree sterling silver scroll document holders that were cylindrical-shaped, but not shaped like a flat compact, which I assumed was likely more common.

Like a lighter, the top or cap is on a hinge.

Like a lighter, the top or cap is on a hinge.

The price was too dear for the piece, but the owner told me she was closing down the store because she couldn’t keep using her retirement money to keep it open. She was planning on discounting everything starting the following week. So I returned the following week, we bargained, and now Vivian is home with me. I continue to search on the Internet, but if any of my vintage-loving friends come across the history of the document holder that looks like Vivian, please share!

My I Love Lucy look: retro jacket on the clearance rack at D'Jour Floral.

My I Love Lucy look: retro jacket on the clearance rack at D’Jour Floral and slim trousers.

Oh, the treasures you’ll find when you least look for it. But you have to be open to opportunities and allow your curiosity to take you to those places you keep telling yourself you don’t have time to seek out. The shop is scheduled to close mid-June. I will go back to get some chandelier crystal pieces that the owner removed from a vintage chandelier. I am intrigued by a WWII Japanese gas mask that is hanging from a rack. It is fascinating, and yes, haunting and dark. So, I ask: How do you style that, or display that? David just merely asks: Why? Indeed!

Mixing vintage, retro-inspired, and contemporary: earrings from a trip to Boston, Anthropologie etched clear bangle, and my mother's ring given to her by her parents.

Mixing vintage, retro-inspired, and contemporary: earrings from a trip to Boston, Anthropologie etched clear bangle, and my mother’s ring given to her by her parents.

Red trousers are a shoo-in to pair with this cut-out jacket, while keeping the accessories clean and simple.

Red trousers are a shoo-in to pair with this cut-out jacket, while keeping the accessories clean and simple.

Tana Hakanson: The Artist’s journey home (Part II)

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Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
– Maria Robinson, American writer

Tana working on a painting of a figure in her home studio.

Tana working on a painting of a figure in her home studio.

Abstract painting: The Balancing act
Abstract painting is much more difficult than many people may imagine, according to artist Tana Hakanson. Balance, composition, color, and contrast are as equally important in non-representational art as they are in representational art. “I’m learning to let go of thinking about what I’m doing too much and let the painting process evolve naturally, while at the same time evaluating the piece along the way for all of the elements that make a painting work,” she said. “It’s a balancing act between letting it happen and making it happen.” Artists can plan out the process when working on a representational piece of art, such as a painting of a still life, because they have a preconceived notion of the end product. In abstract painting, however, the work evolves as you go along, according to Tana.

Sketch of a dancer.

Tana’s sketch of a dancer.

“Each painting seems to takes on a life of its own, so trying to get the materials to do the same thing that they did the day before is futile,” she said. Her best paintings have “seemed to come easily and happen by themselves.” The director of her graduate program’s art department painted while watching television to distract him from the act of painting so his art would just “come out.” While Tana appreciates his theory, she prefers to be more engaged in the moment. “I wouldn’t want to miss anything!” she said. Being in the moment happens away from the canvas, as well. Sometimes she’ll wake up in the middle of the night or be walking outdoors and “get colors in my head.” When those moments come to her, she says, with a big smile, “I get inspired. And that’s the magic of it.”

Art and nature
Not surprisingly, Tana is inspired by nature and glazed pottery, specifically textures that occur through natural processes such as geologic formations and colors in rocks, which make the end product unpredictable and unique. Last year she experimented with paint flowing vertically. This year she is playing with organic shapes, as well as letting paint flow around the canvas, with her only manipulation being the choice of colors and size of the canvas, then working with what comes out of it. With each painting changing as it dries, Tana says she never knows what the outcome will be. “I would like to think that my paintings are like nature at work and I’m participating in the play of nature,” she said.

Tana's painting from her series of wood paintings.

Tana’s painting from her series of wood paintings.

Tana is fascinated by quantum physics, fractals, and how nature creates “incredible, beautiful things.” She’s also interested in chaos theory and how nature is predictable in its unpredictability. “Perhaps since we are nature ourselves, we are drawn to nature’s aesthetic, which, though it has patterns, also always has something different thrown in which creates vibrancy,” she said. The works of artists who inspire her share similar themes. San Francisco artist Saundra MacPherson, whose work of layers upon layers of texture is informed by geology, invited Tana to her studio six years ago when Tana saw her work online and wrote her a letter of appreciation. She credits MacPherson with encouraging her to keep going and keep experimenting with her art. Local artist Stephen Bruce, who works with acid on metal, which creates forms via natural processes, is another source of inspiration.

Tana captures the fluidity of dancers in her sketches.

Tana captures the fluidity of dancers in her sketches.

Doing what you love: Tana as inspiration
A philosophical person at heart, Tana has experienced “a lot of existential angst” in her 46 years. Finding daily tasks “often dull and boring,” and “modern life to be sometimes disjointed and vapid,” she has always been on a quest to get deeper into the “essence of things,” which is why she was drawn to art early on and why it was inevitable that she returned to painting. “I’m not sure what it all means, but I have learned that life is short,” she said. “If you’re cutting yourself off from the things that you love and that have meaning to you, you’re not helping the world. So do what you love – even if it’s carving out a bit of time for it initially. Make it work somehow, no matter where you are in your life.”

Tana Hakanson will show her new work at this year’s East Bay Open Studio, sponsored by Pro Arts the first two weekends in June (1-2 and 8-9), from 11am to 6pm, at her home at 1633 Mariposa Street, Richmond, CA 94804. You can also see her work at Tana Hakanson Studio. Support the arts! Let Tana know that you read about her work here.

Editor’s note: Part I of Tana Hakanson: The Artist’s Journey Home was published here on Friday, May 24.

Tana Hakanson: The Artist’s journey home (Part I)

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The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.  – Robert Henri, American painter and teacher

Preface
I’ve known Tana Hakanson going on eight years this autumn, when our first-born sons entered kindergarten. Thus began years of volunteering at our children’s elementary school and seemingly endless, idyllic afternoons on the playground, our homes and other friends’ homes, and at various child-centered venues for playdates – while we worked outside of the home full-time. As we got to know one another, we developed a special kinship centered in the arts: Tana is an artist, a painter, and I am a fiction writer. Our bond was deepened by our love of paint and words, respectively, and the shared frustration of not having the time or energy to explore our craft and nourish our souls. Through the years, we commiserated with one another, offered encouraging words, and congratulated the incremental victories of finishing a painting and completing a revision of the novel.

Two-thousand thirteen promises to be an important year for the both of us, as we dive deep and make headway into living our creative lives: My novel, after a 16-year journey, will finally be completed later this year, and Tana, who launched her art studio website earlier this year, is preparing for her second open studio.

Tana Hakanson works on a painting at her home studio in the Richmond Annex.

Tana Hakanson works on a painting at her home studio in the Richmond Annex.

The Artist emerges
This time, last year Tana Hakanson reluctantly signed up to participate in Pro Arts’ East Bay Open Studio last June, at the urging of her husband Mauricio Monsalve. She had returned to painting a year and a half ago, when Mauricio suggested that she reduce her hours as a systems specialist for an adventure travel company to four days a week. But at the time, she felt she didn’t have enough work to present, even though her free Fridays allowed her the block of time she needed to paint. Mauricio knew she was ready, but just needed a push. By the end of the open studio, she had sold 21 paintings and was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to her work. As Tana sets up for her second open studio next month, she is better prepared with more work to show and more inspired. More importantly, she has grown so much as an artist.

Tana as a child and budding artist.

Tana as a child and budding artist.

Artistic beginnings, hiatus, and return
As a child, Tana loved to draw. When she went to college, however, she studied music under scholarship. She switched majors and graduated with a degree in English and a minor in music, although she managed to take a lot of drawing and painting classes. When she went on an overseas study program in Indonesia, she fell in love with the local art and was inspired by the colors and how art is part of everyday life in Bali. She studied traditional Balinese art and stayed on after the program ended, painting and selling her work to individual art patrons and in a local art gallery in Bali.

After graduation, Tana tried her hand at commercial art, attempting to combine her love of art with earning a living. She did illustrations of books on dogs and cats. “It was really fun, but I realized it wasn’t exactly what I was trying to get out of art,” she recalled. For Tana, art is “personal and spiritual.” She applied to graduate school, hoping to explore that aspect of art. Most of the programs out there, according to Tana, were more conceptual, socially driven, and intellectual, and not focused on the spiritual or philosophical experience of art. The arts and consciousness program at John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley stressed the process of art over art itself and the transformative aspects of art making. Many graduates of the program become art therapists; but Hakanson said, “I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it [the degree], but I knew it was what I wanted to study.”

Getting her masters jump-started her to develop her art further. When she gave birth to her son Marcelo in 2000 and then her son Mateo in 2003, however, Hakanson focused on motherhood, which she describes as a “deep and ongoing experience.” Although she continued sketching – taking her sketchbooks on family road trips – she stopped painting altogether. Working at Wilderness Travel (1102 9th Street, Berkeley, 94710, 800.368.2794) and taking care of her sons after school didn’t leave any time, especially big blocks of time, for painting.

Tana and her family on a recent trip.

Tana and her family on a recent trip.

She carved out a little time to take up dance, specifically flamenco, which was a different medium for releasing her creativity. “I love the body and I love movement,” she said. “Movement is a way to connect to nature and that energy of life, and it’s transformative in the same way art is.” When her Fridays were freed up, she contemplated dropping flamenco to focus completely on painting. But the movement aspect of dance and dance’s ability to fuel her art and give her energy were important enough to keep both going. “For me, a big aspect of my work is movement,” she said.

Tana's sketch of a dancer.

Tana’s sketch of a dancer.

Abstract painting: Freedom to experiment
Tana is devoting the next two years to developing her painting, and then marketing her work. For now, with Fridays as her only day for painting, she has just enough pieces for next month’s open studio. Tana feels that she’s learned so much in the last year in terms of working with the materials. “The more I paint, the more I understand how to use the material for what I want to do,” she said. One of her many goals this year is to work with disparity in the tones to create more contrast, which creates depth. “I tend to avoid contrast, because this kind of boldness doesn’t come naturally to me – in painting or in real life,” she explained. “But just like in any aspect of life, you have to face it and keep trying if you want to grow. I have a vision of where I want my art to be, but it’s not something I can really pinpoint.”

An abstract painting from Tana's series of water paintings.

An abstract painting from Tana’s series of water paintings.

Experimenting with “liquidy” paint gives her the sense of movement that she is seeking, in both the process itself and the work. “As the paint settles, you can see the energy and flow of movement,” she said. “For me, it’s about freedom to try new things, seeing where it takes me, the unexpected, and surprises along the way,” she said. “The process is the thing for me – then something interesting comes out of it that eventually becomes a painting. Sometimes it just happens naturally – like magic. Sometimes it involves some working and struggling along the way. Mostly it’s some of both, and that interplay makes it compelling.”

Tana Hakanson will show her new work at this year’s East Bay Open Studio, sponsored by Pro Arts the first two weekends in June (1-2 and 8-9), from 11am to 6pm, at her home at 1633 Mariposa Street, Richmond, CA 94804. You can also see her work at Tana Hakanson Studio. Support the arts! Let Tana know that you read about her work here.

Editor’s Note: Part II of Tana Hakanson: The Artist’s Journey Home will be posted on Monday, May 27.

The artist's studio.

A painting dries at the artist’s studio.