I recently returned from a short winter residency at Penland. I wish it had been longer! I feel so lucky to have been given the time and studio space to work on my research, not to mention a supportive community of amazing artists. The experience of Penland during the winter was really different from my experience during the summer. I loved how peaceful and quiet it was.

While at Penland I focused primarily on my shortwave research using a transfer process called Super Sauce to combine my own images of shortwave stations onto QSL cards, the cards ham operators send each other. While near Asheville I was also fortunate enough to be interviewed by two people who have sparked my interest in shortwave immensely, David Goren and Thomas Witherspoon. It has genuinely been a while since I've had that much fun in one day! On a side note, Thomas graciously helped me hear my first shortwave number station this week! I could not be more thrilled. I've been trying to hear one for so long and it turns out the only place I get reception is on a small patch of grass in the corner of my backyard...but I got it!

I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester and it has only just begun. Next up is a trip to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. I leave in a couple of weeks with a delightful group of artists and am photographing, recording sounds, and will be going out to the desert with my shortwave radio to see what I can hear. Can't wait for a bit of traveling!