Cover Image Stories

Home Page Cover Image

This image is a compilation of two images: one that I've taken of the chalkboard in my office and one that Linda Kosten took of me.

In the first image, a black chalkboard sits above a tray with rainbow chalk in it. I know most people prefer whiteboards or plain old pen and paper for brainstorming, but there's something about the way chalk feels in my hand that makes it such a better sensory experience -- the chalk, by the way, is this kind (it's well worth the hype).

Superimposed on the first image is a circle cutout of a photo of me with my dog, Cooper, sitting on my lap. I'm wearing a sweater that I've just finished making. This sweater is called "Only Rainbows After Rain" after a lyric in the Andy Grammer song "Keep Your Head Up".  You can read more about the designer and my process of making the sweater here. 

Art Page Cover Image

This image is a compilation of two images, but with a lot of help from editing magic. Here's how I put it together:

The background of the image is an art collage that hangs in my apartment.

 I started making collages like this in my first dorm room in college and it's only grown since. Some of these pieces, such as the three part leaping eagle series in the middle, were completed in an art class, but the rest are a collection of coloring pages, sketches, and the results of messy afternoons spent painting. Whenever I have a new piece I'm happy with, I'm usually re-arranging the collage to incorporate the new addition.

While the version of the collage that appears in the header is adjusted for legibility, it is largely the same as the original. The foreground image, however, is heavily edited from the photo below.

Two people sit on a concrete bench looking at the art in an art gallery. The one on the left has shoulder-length brown hair and wears a black backpack over a pink blouse and dark pants. The one on the right has curly blond hair, a white blouse, and jeans.

This photo was taken in September 2022 at the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis. The person to the left is my Aunt Rebecca, who I'm named after -- a wonderful writer, mentor, and friend to me over the years. Given all her support and this great image of the both of us appreciating art, it felt right to ask her to share this header image with me. 

To get to the edited version with our silhouettes on a longer bench in front of my art wall at home I used the free(ish) editing software on Canva, which in turn makes use of some generative AI tools to work its magic. I highly recommend playing around with this tool (with appropriate caution and permission from those depicted, of course). 

Teaching Page Cover Image

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Research Page Cover Image

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