You Look So Normal

"But you look so normal on the outside" is the best compliment Ginger Burrell ever received about her work. Join Ginger as she shares her lifelong journey through art making. A journey that began with her first artist’s book at age 8, to a high school teacher’s proclamation that her art was "no good," to having her artwork featured in the Smithsonian. From driving down dark streets

With a tripod in the back of her minivan to filling a gumball machine with books, Ginger expresses her ideas, feelings, and opinions through art. She finds the flexibility of Artists' Books exciting and endless. Ginger often collaborates with her husband, Greg, who is adept at sudden U-turns because there is something that really needs to be photographed.

On her way to becoming an artist Ginger was a teacher, ran a preschool, and headed Human Resource departments for high-tech companies. A round of layoffs, a class at the San Francisco Center for the Book taught by Laura Russell, and a visit to the annual Artist Books' show at the Donna Seager gallery transformed a love for photography into a need to create Artist's Books. Ginger has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from San Jose State University's School of Art and Design and a degree in Child and Adolescent Development.

 Ginger's work includes photography, monotype, composite imagery, sound, electronics, poetry, and, most recently, ceramics. She explores a range of topics, especially social and political issues. Ginger has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her books are held in museums and private and public collections, including SFMOMA, the National Museum of Women in the

Arts, Ringling School of Art and Design, The Art Institute of Chicago, Harvard University, and many more. For a full list, please see www.gingerburrell.com

Ginger lives in Marana, AZ, with her husband and "too many" cats.

IG - instagram.com/gingerrachele/

Or visit her website at www.gingerburrell.com/

Winging It: Navigating a Creative Life Together

Michele and Steve Vaughan have stitched together more than three decades of marriage, art, and adventure. Michele is a restless creator, following her curiosity into quilting, mixed media, painting, photography, and more while Steve has remained nested in his lifelong passions as a naturalist and photographer. Through their presentation, they share stories of two creative journeys—vastly different in approach yet deeply connected—woven together by partnership, curiosity, and a need to create.

Speaker Bios

Michele Vaughan

Curiosity is the thread that is woven through every part of Michele Vaughan’s life—her work in technology, her adventures as an entrepreneur, and her passion for making. It has carried her through careers in technology, entrepreneurial ventures in teaching art and yoga, and creative pursuits in photography and quilting—and continues to fuel her restless creativity. From fabric to paper, megapixels to bytes, making to teaching, Michele is driven by curiosity to keep exploring. For her, art is less about arriving at mastery than about discovering what’s possible when she tries something new.

Stephen Vaughan

Consistency has defined Steve Vaughan’s life as a naturalist and nature photographer. For more than fifty years, he has devoted himself to observing, studying, and photographing the natural world, with his images appearing in National Geographic, Audubon, National Wildlife, Sierra Club, and Arizona Highways. He is especially known for his passion for eagles, hawks and owls and for mentoring others to look more closely at the life around them. For Steve, creativity is rooted in focus, patience, and the enduring joy of bearing witness.

Michele’s restless curiosity and Steve’s steady devotion have created a shared life of art, nature, and adventure. Side by side, they show that creativity can take many forms—sometimes sewn together, sometimes flown apart, but always deeply connected.