Starting up this blog because I need a place to speak, something beyond IG, something that isn’t so limited by algorithms and scraped for content to feed AI. While I will continue posting photos on IG, I am going to use my blog “Simply Spirited” to think aloud, to share ideas, write poetry, give tips, invite you to special events, and anything else that comes along.
By way of introduction, I’m April to most people I know, but also Professor DeConick. I have been a professor at Rice University for 20 years now - twenty great years. I’m a specialist in early Christian literature and history, particularly fascinated with mysticism and gnosticism. Before that I was a professor in Illinois and before that I took my degree at the University of Michigan.
During COVID shutdown, I decided to jump into art professionally too, feeling very “called” to take my art seriously now or never. I rented a studio space at Sawyer Yards in Houston and developed my art practice in textiles and ceramics.
I like making. Maybe that is understated. I can’t live without making. It’s essential to who I am and how I live. I can’t stop making. I’m a maker of spirited things.
That about sums it up.