A-SIDE / B-SIDE

While seemingly disparate and unrelated, the two sides of this show (paintings and textile works) are very much connected—primarily through process and a commitment to near-daily devotion.

The watercolor studies were born out of a period in 2024 when I was attempting to reconnect to my painting practice after a hiatus. In my 38 years of living, I’ve learned that consistent, daily practice is the best way for me to build meaningful habits. But for me to commit to doing something daily, the bar has to be very low. When I committed to painting every day during this season of life, the only bar I set for myself was “brush touches paper every day.” The point wasn’t to make a masterpiece. The point was to find time each day to pause and process the swirl of my interior landscape by noticing something outside of myself. The point was also to remind myself how much I enjoy moving paint around on paper! Some days I only made one small gesture with my brush. Other days I painted for hours. The paintings in this show are a selection from this time of tending. They are small poems about devotion and the beauty in the everyday.

This devotion to daily practice carried into my work with textiles. The fabric studies were mostly all made over the summer of 2025 in the lead-up to this show, during the early morning hours as the sun was peaking through. A phrase I once heard, ”A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing,” was a mantra for me as I reminded myself that each day, my only goal was to cut up some fabric, sew it together, and just see. In moments of stuckness or time-scarcity, I’d add helpful constraints, challenging myself to work small and only use two fabrics. With an emphasis on play, juxtaposition, and experimentation, these textile works are expressions of my attempts at “lightening up” while digesting news, memories, grief, and the combination of sadness and anxiety that seems to bubble up when I set down one creative practice to focus on another (can’t do it all all the time!).

Which is the A-side and which is the B-side? I don’t know! I suppose you can decide for yourself if you’d like, but I’m not sure it really matters :)

- Nicole Musgrave, Sep ‘25

Outbound
thrifted, gifted, and found fabrics on a stretched canvas, 8” x 10”, 2025

$100 (SOLD)