I met Nancy at a demonstration that she gave on paper making at the Anderson County Art Center. I was fascinated with her work, but I was equally fascinated with her stories and how well she was grounded on her path. She invited me to come to her studio.

Later, on one cold winter day, I called Nancy and asked if I could come up to Walhalla, South Carolina to talk with her, and see her working studio and gallery. I had a nice trip through the mountains of upstate South Carolina, and easily found her cabin.

Nancy showed me her pine needle baskets, paper, and cards made from the kudzu vine that she is "called" to work with. I purchased her hand-made papers for the custom covers of my hand-bound journals. I also bought some of the hand-made cards that are like mini-quilts made form her paper, each one telling a story.

We settled into her barn (of course covered with kudzu vines), and she shared with me some teachings from her tribal heritage. I learned a great deal to apply to my own journey. One concept is the notion that we all have a medicine that we are granted at birth but must discover how to harness and use. Our personal medicine is an ability that we have that gives us the insight to just know which color to pick for a painting or which herb to gather to use for healing. We don't have to be taught these skills; we just have them.

Another teaching is the concept of the Red Road. This is our life path. It is not a well planned, and thought out in advance, detailed plan. Instead, when we reach a crossroad in our life journey we must learn to use our medicine to make a decision that brings order out of chaos. Life is a series of crossroads - not a journey and not a destination.

These cards all use kudzu paper dyed to create a variety of earth tones.

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$12