Here’s what I am doing this summer.

Standing long hours at the kitchen sink. Drizzling miles of monofilament with hot glue. I need just over 2,000 strands for my upcoming installation at Central Washington University. It opens October 2.

I started using hot glue as sculptural media in 2007. As a fluke!  I spilled glue into a drip pan on my counter when trying fix a broken tea cup.

The oozing stream quickly sizzled into a squiggle that looked amazingly like an icicle. Instant obsession! After weeks of feverish studio testing, I knew the direction of my artistic life was about to change. And it did.

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to create a half dozen solo exhibits for museums and galleries. Once trial and error, my process of fabricating the quirky fibers is now fairly routine, though admittedly, time- and labor-intensive. Exceedingly so!

Occasionally, the repetitive nature of the process sends me into Lala Land, where I forget what I’m doing and burn myself. But at least I’m close to water when it happens — ahhhhhhh!