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079 Robin’s Egg Blue
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🦆 Michigan Birds: Dai as the Wood Duck This seas

🦆 Michigan Birds: Dai as the Wood Duck

This season I’ve been thinking about costume. When we dress up as something else, we often get brave enough to try on a part of ourselves we’ve been keeping quiet. That’s how Michigan Birds started. A bird book, a pile of fabric, and permission to play.

Dai never had just one color. When she opened my bird books, she landed on the Wood Duck: emerald, midnight blue, bronze, turquoise and every warm brown in between.

She didn’t need one color.
She needed the whole story.

She took her pieces home and lived with them before we ever picked up the camera. By the time we chased the sunset around Reeds Lake, the Wood Duck had shown her something she called gentle power.

Power that doesn’t need to announce itself.
Power that knows when to move and when to rest.

Here’s my question for you this costume season:
What would you try on if no one expected you to stay the same?
And what if those colors didn’t come off on November 1st?

That’s what a Color Revival is for. We swatch all 150 of my colors against your skin, notice what your body reaches for, and dye a capsule collection you’ll actually wear. Clothes that make you come alive. Clothes that let you fly.🪶 🦆

🔗 Read Dai’s portrait + book a Color Revival: link in bio

#MichiganBirds #PowerPortraits #WoodDuck #ColorRevival #DashDye

Thirty portraits. One flash mob. A block party, a

Thirty portraits. One flash mob. A block party, a Flock Walk and a whole lot of people choosing the color that makes them want to fly. Thank you for voting, dancing, dyeing and showing up for Michigan Birds. 🪶

ArtPrize is over, but the practice isn't. Everything that happened on Division happens in my Grand Rapids studio, all year:
🎨 Personal Dye Session: find your colors and dash a few pieces
👯 Friends & Family: up to 6 people, kid-friendly
✨ Color Revival: color analysis, a closet edit, a 6-piece capsule and a styled portrait

Book at the link in bio.

More joy is possible.

#GrandRapids #ColorAnalysis #DashDye #MoreJoyIsPossible #michiganbirds

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

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