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Category: All Pieces

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It turns out all humans want to fly. 🪶 It started

It turns out all humans want to fly. 🪶

It started with my bird feeder and a daily ritual of seeing who had stopped by for breakfast. That curiosity grew into color, then outfits, and then into people.

Michigan Birds is an installation of thirty portraits of West Michiganders, each dressed as their favorite Michigan bird. Each person chose the bird that felt most like home and styled a look that made them want to fly. Alone, each one has a story. Together, they form a flock.

But the flock couldn't sit still. It left the walls to inspire movement. We danced as the Joyful Disruptors in Rosa Parks Circle and dyed our own bird looks on Division. Flying and flow, dancing and rhythm. It's all connected.

🗳 Vote for Michigan Birds, entry 23485, at REWIND, 17 Division. Voting ends Friday!

📖 Read the stories behind each bird:
morejoystudio.com/portraits/michigan-birds

🌆 Fly with us Friday, Oct 2: dress-up party at REWIND from 5–6 PM, then the Flock Walk through the city from 6–8 PM.

More joy is possible.

#ArtPrize2026 #MichiganBirds #GrandRapids #MoreJoyIsPossible #MoreJoyStudio

Today was magical. 🪶 Flock the Block hit the stree

Today was magical. 🪶 Flock the Block hit the streets in vibrant colors.

I've played dress up one-on-one in my studio for years. I had never played dress up in an alleyway with strangers. Turns out anybody willing to put on a scarf, listen to music, and dance is my kind of person. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

The portraits perched on the fence, people wandered down and found a whole flock waiting, and I got to watch joy land on their faces. My festival scarves can be tied many ways, but I tie them so you feel like you're flying. One demonstration and people stepped right into that feeling and moved. The kids loved it.

Thank you Jenna for the truck, the full day, and the friendship that started on the fields of Wild Zen. Thank you Tina and Caleb from Rewind for the snacks and the love.

WE GO AGAIN SUNDAY · NOON–7PM
📍 The alley across the street from Rewind

Dress up, dance, and bring something to transform at the dash-dye station.

It's good for us to get in touch with our bodies and move, and colorful play clothes help us get there. Come play with me. Play with color. Play with what your body already knows: that it wants the shades that make it come alive. Join us and find out which shade wakes you up and makes you want to fly.

There's so much life left. @MoreJoyIsPossible

#FlockTheBlock #MichiganBirds #ArtPrize2026 #MoreJoyIsPossible #morejoystudio

Elena and I know each other from the climbing gym,

Elena and I know each other from the climbing gym, and today I got to watch her pick amethyst and pomegranate and set them off against each other like fireworks.

By the time it developed, it didn't look like a color choice anymore. It looked like her.

That's the thing about dash-dyeing — it's fast, it's easy, and you learn something about a person in three minutes that you might not get in a year of seeing them across a room. You find out what they reach for.

Come find out what you reach for. Weekends outside REWIND on Division. $10 to dye something.

ArtPrize voting is open through October 3 — Michigan Birds is #23485.

The rain finally let up this morning and I watched

The rain finally let up this morning and I watched Division Street wake up for ArtPrize.

Almost immediately — joy. On kids' faces, on grown-ups' faces. Everybody looking around. Everybody awake.

I embodied the green heron. Something about those rich shades brought me a comfort I didn't know I was asking for. Things come into our lives for a season. It doesn't have to be permanent to be a gift.

All day, people came to my station and picked a bird — from one of my portraits, from one of my bird books, or from somewhere in their own memory. So many came specifically for this. So many bird people out here. They picked up dash-dyeing so seamlessly it was beautiful. Just us and the wind, playing.

My favorite part was watching groups watch each other. Each person learning from their friend and then taking a slightly different turn. Nobody wanted to copy anybody. That's the beauty of this art form — you get to show up as boldly and brightly as you already are. Nature hands us the whole palette if we lean into it.

People flew in and out of REWIND all day. Caleb and Tina have curated something beautiful in there — work that's vibrant on its own, and together it holds the heart of the place. There's joy in remembering the good times. And there's no need to throw things away. Bring me the old garment. Let's give it a new life.

🪶 THE DETAILS 🪶
📍 Outside REWIND on Division
🕛 Tomorrow (Sunday), noon–6
💵 $10 to dye something you bring
💵 $10 for a bandana if you come empty-handed
🎧 Next weekend: Flock the Block for more dyeing + a silent disco

ArtPrize voting is open through October 3 — Michigan Birds is #23485:
artprize.org/entries#23485

Come dance with me and let's see what kind of bird you are.

There's so much life left.

#ArtPrize2026 #MoreJoyIsPossible #MoreJoy

MICHIGAN BIRDS 🦉 Diva as the Great Horned Owl I m

MICHIGAN BIRDS 🦉 Diva as the Great Horned Owl

I met Diva in the fields of Wild Zen, where her energy sparked my brain almost immediately. She’s easy to smile with, endlessly curious, and remarkably good at noticing the treasures other people might walk right past.

Finding her bird felt a little like magic.

I asked Diva what Michigan bird she might be. She thought about it while I flipped through one of my bird books. At the exact moment she said “Great Horned Owl,” I turned the page and landed on one.

We just looked at each other.

There it was.

Diva is a multidisciplinary HeArtist from Traverse City who creates art from treasures she gathers along the lakeshore. Her philosophy is: “The treasures we seek are right here in the NOW. Right here in the Heart.” After navigating sobriety, motherhood, questions of faith, leaving an abusive relationship, and building a more peaceful life for herself and her children, she knows something about finding beauty without pretending darkness doesn’t exist.

For her Great Horned Owl, I dressed Diva in Charcoal Gray and Golden Brown and followed her into the grassy area at Smiling Acres. She stood watching and listening. Then the wind caught her scarf and her arms opened, and suddenly she was flying.

That day Diva told me she'd arrived at Wild Zen wondering:
“Am I even a fun person?”

By then, the answer seemed obvious to me.

I watched the whole world become more fun when Diva was in it. Her smile sparkles. Her curiosity makes you curious. When she notices something beautiful, you want to look too. When she spins, you want to spin.

Maybe joy isn't something waiting for us at the end of healing.

Maybe learning to recognize joy when it appears is part of how we heal.

Diva notices.

And then she swoops in. 🦉✨

🔗 Read the Portrait: https://morejoystudio.com/diva-as-the-great-horned-owl/

#MichiganBirds #PowerPortraits #GreatHornedOwl #MoreJoyIsPossible #artprize2026

The Joyful Disruptors flew. My ArtPrize installat

The Joyful Disruptors flew.

My ArtPrize installation, Michigan Birds, came off the walls of Rewind and into Rosa Parks Circle for the dance themed preview weekend. All day the plaza belonged to trained dancers. Then we sent in the Joyful Disruptors led by Whitney and styled by me— untrained, unbothered, dancing to "Praise You." Art and self-expression on the same floor. That's how ArtPrize should open.

See if you can spot all the birds represented. I'm the song sparrow. Whitney, the hummingbird. Topher, the kingfisher. Jae, the rouen. Amanda, the crow. Gerren, the goldfinch. Big Chef, the blue grosbeak. Shane, the golden eagle. Andi, the red-tailed hawk. Jen, the barn swallow. Martha, the indigo bunting. Cassie, the cardinal. Breah, the great horned owl. Mallory, the robin. Jenna, the European starling. Jay, the tufted titmouse.

Mid-song we dropped to the ground, looked up, and there was a whole flock turning over the circle, riding the wind for the joy of it. What was above was reflected below.

Michigan Birds is on display at Rewind and voting opens September 18 — you can vote daily on the ArtPrize app.

And the flock keeps gathering. Flock the Block, my mini festival will feature a silent disco on September 26, and dye your own bird on September 27. You'll choose your bird and find out how it makes you want to move. Portraiture. Pieces to try on. Color you can wear out the door.

So start thinking about your bird. Nature already made the palette — no season, no forecast, no one selling it to us.

Michigan is rich with it. Together we all flew. Join us.

#ArtPrize2026 #MichiganBirds #MoreJoyIsPossible #MoreJoyStudio #ArtPrize

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