Sizz Handmade

✨ A little update (and a lot of gratitude) ✨

It turns out my original date needed a gentle nudge—thank you to the many kind eyes in this beautiful community who let me know that Schenectady Art Night is May 15 (not May 20 💛).

So I’m so happy to share the official invitation…

Join me for the grand opening of my new first-floor gallery and shop space at Brouwer House Creative
Friday, May 15 | during Schenectady Art Night

This space feels like a quiet expansion—a place to gather, to touch, to see the work up close.

I’ll be sharing:
• a small collection of one-of-a-kind tapestries
• handspun tapestry yarns
• and a limited release of weaving kits (once they’re gone, they’re gone)

It means so much to be growing this next chapter right here, surrounded by people who truly show up for one another.

Come wander through, say hello, and celebrate this new beginning with me ✨

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CtQNlAe5Wk

Knitting Helps Us Embrace Life’s Messy Imperfections | Op-Docs This Op-Docs film is from 2023. Documentary and text by Samantha Moore:I started making this short documentary as a response to my mom developing dementia in...

New transparency-woven candles + holders for this year’s Hudson Mohawk Weavers Guild Show & Sale!
Flax, hand-spun wool, silk, and plant dyes come alive in the flame — like sheep, birds, and flowers drifting through the glow.
A tiny bit of magic for winter nights. ✨

Well said Deb! Leah of Sweet Sprig is a soapster rockstar and has a strong sense of ethics that permeates her brand. You inspire me! Looking forward to participating in your book club, which is super fun, and seeing you evolve! Jay Street is a perfect next step!

The new year will bring changes to Brouwer House Creative. After Christmas, Leah LaFera’s Sweet Sprig retail shop and work space will be closing. Leah and Potato Pup will relocate in late January to 166 Jay St. in the heart of downtown Schenectady. This is a terrific opportunity for Leah to expand her following in a wonderful new location and I wish her so much future success. I will miss her advice, her friendship, and the comforting scents of her amazing soaps and candles but I’m sure they will linger along with Leah’s influence in the house for some time to come.

With Leah’s departure Brouwer House Creative is transitioning exclusively to fine art studio spaces. The house will be open for tours during the bi-yearly Stockade Walkabout and other neighborhood events but there will no longer be regular open hours or a retail space. Of course you may contact individual artists to arrange personal studio visits for artwork purchases.

I will remain part of the Brouwer House Creative community but in a new studio. I am moving downstairs to the first floor “Library” room, Leah’s previous production and office space. Change comes just in time for my knee, which has been complaining on a regular basis about climbing the stairs to my current studio. I am looking forward to setting up my studio space and getting to work on new paintings for the New Year!

Three days of weaving, laughter, and letting the materials lead.

Spent a beautiful weekend at Catskill Weaving School with Dee Clements of Studio Herron, who came all the way from Chicago to share her magic. 🌾

She said my piece looked like an artifact, which felt like hearing my hands remember something ancient. I’ll be keeping that one tucked in my compliment chest for a good long while. 🧺✨

"Voices of the Spitzer Building" (2004) This piece won
Best in Show, and is also part of the permanent collection of the Albany Institute of History & Art

This piece was created for Historic Albany’s annual exhibition, Vacancy, now Built. It was a meditation on how the stories embedded in architecture evolve over time. My work centered on the former City Arts Building, which later became 17 Chapel, a luxury condominium property by the Rosenblum Companies. In 1977, that same building housed the Albany Center Gallery, a space that nurtured countless artists — and just a few months after completing this piece, I would step into the role of Executive Director there.

Each small panel in this work is the size of an index card, referencing the old City of Albany employee labor record cards once stored there — physical traces of people whose efforts built the city, both literally and culturally. Other fragments include poems once written on the building’s stairways, remnants from art installations when it was the City Arts Building and many other stories that left a trace.

Though I hadn’t yet discovered tapestry weaving yet, the impulse behind this piece was already woven through my creative practice: a fascination with memory, material, and the layered histories that shape place.

Time has transformed the building, but the echoes remain — a reminder that every wall, every story, and every hand that built or painted or dreamed inside that space continues to resonate.

Where Sky Meets Earth

I’m honored to have my tapestry Sky Meets Earth featured in the upcoming Charlton Makes exhibit at !

Woven with layers of color and meaning, this piece explores the quiet power of horizons—those liminal spaces where what’s above and what’s below meet, shift, and shimmer.

Exhibit runs: May 31 – June 15
Opening Reception: This Saturday, 5–8pm
Main Street Artists Gallery, Charlton, NY

Come say hi, meet the artists, and see what we’ve been creating in our corners of the world.

✨Last night at SUNY Schenectady’s Long Night Against Procrastination (LNAP), I had the joy of weaving together two parts of my life—quite literally.

As a stewardship professional, I spend my days supporting students through fundraising and partnerships. But as a fiber artist, I find deep purpose in the meditative, tactile process of weaving.

At LNAP, I introduced students to backstrap weaving, an ancient art form practiced around the world. In the middle of study sessions and caffeine-fueled paper writing, we carved out a space for creativity, focus, and connection—one thread at a time. 🧶

This event reminded me: whether we're crafting goals or cloth, every strand matters. And when we bring our whole selves to the table, beautiful things happen.

https://youtu.be/2qALHS-QJ28?si=bXVeV9BbNFymvSQb

Explaining TARIFFS with a Textile History Lesson I'm telling the story of textile manufacturing in the USA so we can have an informed understanding about how we got here. I'll start with Colonial America, t...