art + inspiration

Radical Crochet and Tinkertown

Hello! I’m just back from an evening of Moroccan Sufi Blues at The Local in Saugerties, where we’ll be holding The Secret City gathering this summer (August 23rd.) I didn’t know how much I needed to dance and feel ecstasy. Now, as I put the finishing touches on the newsletter, I feel reborn! I hope this week’s items give you a bit of that. Enjoy!

• Chelsea Billingsley shows us what crochet is capable of….here’s an Essence feature on her, and an IG feature, too.

• Painters on Painting is a website that celebrates the visual arts. From their ABOUT section: “Each essay features an artist writing about a work of art that informs or inspires them.” It’s the brainchild of artists, Julie Heffernan and Virginia Wagner. The current essay is Yuka Nakamura on Takuto Kadokura.

  

  Takuto Kadokura, The Ideal Pot, 2026, Acrylic on canvas, 35.2 x 51.3 in

• Fascinating annual celebration—over 500 years and going strong—in Nigeria, featuring horses, costumes, and pageantry. This series in World of Interiors features cool and interesting craft traditions from around the world.

• Laurie Anderson on Tiny Desk—-yasssss.
  

Scooters in Vietnam, Martin Biger, 2026

• How about Les Swingle Singers? It’s BACH!

• Loving these gameboard-like works by Karla Knight. (Though I could do without the condescension of the article’s author…)

  

  James Hague, Study Plant with Painting, 2025

• Ever heard of Tinkertown in Albuquerque? Here’s a great interview with Tanya Ward Goodman, daughter of Ross Ward, the artist behind the magical spot.

• Extraordinary photographs from turn-of-the-last-century Norway — queer, feminist, fun and fabulous.

  

• Like I needed another reason to visit the Netherlands. Check out the gardens of Mien Ruys, considered “the mother of the modernist garden.” Just magnificent. Here’s a guide on building your own.

• Darya Benavides makes masks and costumes for carnival, as well as for rock bands of her native Colombia.

  

• Imagine my surprise—and sadness—when I realized that Sonny Rollins, the jazz titan who died earlier this week, lived in the same town as me. How had I never run into him, or heard this news before? The Times ran a great obit on him — but they also featured him in their editorial pages in 2020, in a series of essays by artists answering the question: Why Does Art Matter? It’s a doozy.

• And y’know what rhymes with doozie? Siouxsie. Here’s a piece on what made Spellbound so great. (BTW, the song is from FORTY FIVE YEARS AGO! Day-um. Such a great sound, great video, too.)

Hey, thanks for stopping by. BTW — I’ve got a writing workshop at OMEGA in Upstate, NY at the end of June. It’s part of their annual Arts Week. Please join me. Also, we’re preparing to rollout The Secret City’s Substack in early July. We’ll be featuring all kinds of art content—interviews, essays, work from the archives. VERY excited about this. You can subscribe here. Until next time. — XOChris