Author: rayela

Brazil 18years + Chicago 20yrs + Paducah since 2005 These have shaped my path and interests. I spent many years as an active artist (ceramics and textiles) but have focused on promoting the creative community online since 2010. My current projects are Artizan Made and this site, Creative PlaceMakers.

Our new mascot!  The Screaming Goat!  Why?

Because the world is a mess and this makes me laugh:

Greetings from Paducah, Kentucky, USA!  This is the first newsletter that I am posting on our blog.  I have been using Mailchimp and will still use it to send out a shorter version and to point people over here.  Please sign up for our news in the sidebar where it says “subscribe to our blog by email”.  If you are reading on a phone, scroll down and you will see it.

green roof international house

It’s been a hot and sweltering summer here!  I’ve been at war with my yard.  It’s a large property and we had so much rain from April to July that I just could not keep up with how fast things were growing.  I have had back pain for about 10 years and it has gotten worse in the last year, making mobility difficult.  I just got an mri a week ago and am going to try a shot that helps some people.  The surgeon is recommending surgery, but I’m scared….  Have you had back surgery?  How did it go for you? Meanwhile, I hire help when I can.

Here’s a Google aerial view of the property when it was purchased in 2019.  We are the brick house on the corner.

We’ve done a lot of work on the grounds in the last two years, but it’s slow going….  Still, it is fun to see it evolve into a creative space! Little by little….

I wanted to show you a bit of where we are as a big part of the creative placemaking movement involves using art and innovation to personalize space, make it accessible to the community, and trigger happiness. I will be writing about my favorite places and invite you to share yours, too!

blog post series

I launched this website at about the same time as when Trump won the election. Now we are entering the eighth month of his Administration.  It’s been hard to keep up with the craziness that he and his people have inflicted on our Democracy, social institutions and on the environment.  Creative PlaceMakers is dedicated to promoting people who are engaged in contributing to our world through creativity, honoring diversity and practicing sustainability.  These are defined on our About Page.

As one who resists against and dissents from the current rise to white supremacy, fascism, and war around the world, I believe that the best use of my time is to invest in this site.  But, along with protesting against these forces, I would like to shine the light on what we should be moving towards. We can be angry and split apart at our foundations, but unless we have the inspiration of what we want to see happen, we will just be in pain. We have plenty of history to look back on as well as great stories that are happening right now, right here, next door, across town, and around the world.  I invite you to share your stories with us!

There are recurring themes that catch my attention and will become a set of series on our blog.

Click on the images or titles below to go to the post.

immigration

Most of us have come from somewhere and others are still coming and going.  Each new wave of immigration causes both storms and opportunities.  The United States is one of the biggest social experiments in the cultural salads, although many other countries are now as diverse. In telling those stories, we can grow and nurture the relationships that develop because of this willingness to rub shoulders with strangers.  We already have three immigration stories and all of them are fun!

icelandic settlements in minnesota

My great grandfather, JB Gislason, immigrated to Minnesota from Iceland when he was eight years old. He wrote a wonderful narrative about what he remembered about his live in Iceland, the trip they took by ship, and the challenges they found when they settled in Minneota.  My Aunt Olive has worked on our family history for decades and she added some photos and notes and then I added an update on the part that I know of that town.

sanctuary in tasmania – rita summers art quilt

Rita Summers is a member both of Creative PlaceMakers and Artizan Made, our sister site.  She and her husband immigrated to Tasmania, Australia, and she made an art quilt honoring that journey.  She shared a newspaper article about her father and talked about his life, too. Rita uses botanical dyes to mark and color upcycled garments, home décor and paper goods.

Visit her website.

the home within. reflections on england, new zealand, and australia by debra dorgan

Debra Dorgan has lived in England, New Zealand and Australia.  She loves to walk and photograph the houses she sees and shared quite a few that she has found, especially in Brisbane.  Debra is a member of Artizan Made and sells her garments, home decor, jewelry and paintings on Etsy.

Visit her shop.

resistance

Resistance posts showcase protest art and music, documenting how people are expressing themselves in these times of turmoil. We have two stories so far.

“not what i taught you” by aynex mercado

Aynex is a Creative PlaceMaker member who lives in Frederick, Maryland, USA.  Originally from Puerto Rico, she has several series of her art quilts, including one that illustrates buildings in Frederick. “Not what I taught you” questions attitudes and history that she sees as contradictions in the American society.

Visit her website.

photography in iran: documenting memory and change

War in Iran: two of our members, Zohreh Solati and Nazli Abbaspour, suffered the effects of the bombings by Israel in June of 2025. Zohreh’s apartment was destroyed and Nazli was stranded in Sweden (she is back now). Both are photographers documenting life and memory in Iran. Both are in great need of financial support and have donation links in the post. Zohreh has taken great risks by doing street performances in Tehran as a part of the Women, Life, Freedom Movement. Nazli has a book of her photos available as a download. Your support of them would mean so much!

my neighbor

This series will be dedicated to the memory of Mr. Rogers. His kindness and gentle manner should set the tone for the kind of neighborhoods we want to live in.  Every time I watch this video, a Public Broadcasting System (one of the programs Trump has defunded), my spirit soars!

Mr Rogers had a television show for children from 1968 – 2001.  I will write a separate post about him along with a list of interview questions that you can use.  My first interview will be with my neighbor, Anna, who lives just half a block from me.  I used to greet her as I walked my dog and one day, she invited me in to see her “museum”.  Astounding!!!!

The problem with Anna is that she is a wonderful story teller….  One question can lead to an hour of stories, so I want to come up with a list of questions that can I can use to give us some boundaries, if we need them….  Anna has been in the neighborhood for over 40 years, so whenever I have a question about something I see here, I ask her.

For example, I found a newspaper clipping that mentioned the address I live at and it listed over 100 people living here.  It was interesting because the list had the name and the profession of the person.  I trotted on over and asked her how it was possible to fit so many people here?!!  She said that it was in the 1950’s when a big gaseous diffusion plant was being built outside of Paducah.  There wasn’t enough housing, so people were renting out every square inch that they had, including UNDER their beds!!! Yikes!

Do you have an interesting neighbor you would like to interview?  I don’t have the list of questions yet, but can make one soon or you can make up your own.

creative spaces

This series will focus on interesting  places that catch my attention or that you submit.  Have a look at our member, Kelly Tompkins in Enid, Oklahoma.  She and her husband have left their mark on the city with murals and sculptures!

artizan remade

Artizan ReMade – A Community Study Group

A couple of years ago, I launched Artizan ReMade with the idea of researching the waste that we produce and what we could do to block these materials from entering the cycle of pollution.  I created a Facebook Group, which grew quickly to 160 members, but I had a hard time keeping it engaged.  There is a LOT of interest by makers in creating products from waste, but there are also a lot of groups and local places where people can congregate.  I still want to do this, but the world has changed and now that I have Creative PlaceMakers as another venue, I will bring the idea over here.  I want to get away from the big social media sites as much as possible as all of the tech bros have gone crazy and they just scare me.

We will have a forum on Creative PlaceMakers where members can share what they are working on, create groups, and promote their projects.  I tried to set it up, but couldn’t figure out how to make the different pieces work together, so that will have to wait until I can hire someone to help me.  Here us a good post I wrote on Fast Fashion.

handmade summer fashion on Artizan Made

Several of Artizan Made’s members make gorgeous garments, jewelry and accessories from upcyled materials.  They are featured here (SuiteVirginia and Jane Porter Fashion pictured in photo).  Click!

That’s all I have come up with so far with blog post themes.  I am open to suggestions, so do contact me or leave a comment here.  See our past blog posts:

Creative PlaceMakers

Artizan Made

get involved!

Creative PlaceMakers seeks to map people who care about how the arts can make this world a better place.  Did you know that the creative sector in the United States is bigger economically than the agricultural one?  (If you include Hollywood.)  Yet artists, musicians and other creatives are rarely recognized for how much they contribute with their talent. Our map can connect people locally and online to inspire, collaborate and grow.

The attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion have been mind boggling, especially as major institutions in the United States bend the knee and capitulate to bizarre ideologies that want to send us back into the dark ages. Well, we’re not going.  Instead, we are going to enjoy our gifts, have fun and shape our communities into places that celebrate our differences and respect the natural world.  It’s hard to believe that the movie, Hair, was made almost 50 years ago!  And, here we are, still waiting for the age of Aquarius…. We’ll just have to make it happen!

I’m not into astrology, but who knows?  There are lots of theories of what this age will bring and when it will happen, but a short one from Google says:

The Age of Aquarius is an astrological concept referring to a period of time when the Earth’s precession of the equinoxes aligns with the constellation Aquarius. It’s often associated with profound social, political, and spiritual shifts, moving humanity towards greater harmony, understanding, and a focus on collective responsibility. While the exact start date is debated, many believe it’s a period of significant change and awakening, potentially beginning in the late 20th or early 21st century.

 

ways you can support this effort

• Become a member.  It’s only $25/year and the more people we get standing on our map, the better visual we have to show off the creative life.   This is the form you need to fill out and instructions are here.

• Join Artizan Made. If you sell handmade, ethical goods online, join our collective!  Some of our members sell on Etsy, but most have their own websites now. We import up to 50 of your products and add them to our market and then promote them.

• Support the Amiga Fund. You pay for a one year membership for a new member who needs financial support and then we help them get seen. You might know someone who would be a good fit or we will look for a fair trader or artist who can use the help.

• Become a Sponsor! Our Sponsors inject a bit of needed financial support that helps pay for hosting fees, marketing and my time. $250 a year gets you an ad on both sites plus two promotions a month on our Facebook and Instagram pages. We have 43K followers on Facebook which is pretty good these days….  Every Sponsor gets an album that is updated twice a year.

I can really use the support at this time.

My electronics are going on strike!  My iPhone is now obsolete.  It heats up all the time and won’t update anymore.  My laptop uses Windows 10 and that becomes obsolete in October.  It’s such a pain to deal with technology sometimes…  I don’t even know what to pick.  I don’t like how AI is built into everything that is new and might see if I can find used ones that are a couple of years old.  But, I suppose updates will just make that happen anyhow.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know.  I have always used Windows for laptops or computers but they don’t play nice with the Apple phone, so I’m thinking of switching….  Ugh.

The fact that ALL of them are subsidizing wars, surveillance, and the loss of our civil rights makes it even harder to support any of them.  But, we live in a time where it is very hard to separate ourselves from this darkness.  Although, I have come to realize that because they are dependent on algorithms, we do have a voice there.  My feeds on Facebook and Instagram are beautiful!  Pretty much all stuff I support, even the ads. So, that’s some kind of a vote.

Again, please let me know if you have ideas or need help in getting your info up on Creative PlaceMakers. I want our content to reflect the diversity we have in our community and welcome feedback on what we can do to get our stories out. Sign up to get our blog posts by email!  (Sidebar on a pc, scroll down on a phone.)

“Draw the art you want to see,

start the business you want to run,

play the music you want to hear,

write the books you want to read,

build the products you want to use –

do the work you want to see done.”

― Austin Kleon