Hola, friend.
This month's Hola Society packet shipped, and I am excited to tell you how it came together.
This month's packet included 12 pieces of art, with 2 new formats we tried for the first time — 5x7 flat cards and a sheet of sticker letters — as well as the usual mix you have come to expect. There was also a zine with journaling prompts, and the little surprise stickers tucked into every packet.
Curating this one was a bit harder than usual, in a good way. I had so much art to choose from this time that narrowing it down felt nearly impossible. I ended up going with a simple principle: more is more. Did the piece feel luxurious? If it did, it went in.
Part of what made the selection tricky is that the creative brief for this theme was deliberately open. I asked artists to submit something that glows, something ethereal or a little mystical, channeling the season without tipping into anything obvious or expected. A few of them came back to me with questions about whether a piece actually fit, and those conversations ended up being some of my favorite parts of the whole process. What makes a piece of art feel ethereal or mystical or otherworldly? There is no single answer, and figuring that out together was part of the fun.
For the zine, I picked up a thread from last month and kept looking at past artists working in the same otherworldly, mystical register as an artist we featured last time, Hilma af Klint, the Swedish painter known for her abstract, spiritual work. We found 4 other women artists that made incredible art in their day.
Production was smooth this time around. The printer, finally fixed, cooperated. We worked through printing the wonderful art in different sizes and on various papers, making stacks all around my studio. The zine came together and was printed last, along with my packet note. My mother helped with packing this round, and having an extra set of hands at the table made everything move a little faster and a little easier.
Mona Mona had a trove of beautiful work this round, 6 pieces made it into the packet. Among them, two black and white pieces where faces emerge if you look closely, a piece with soft overlapping circles, a glowing blue piece that evokes rolling waves, and a piece featuring three otherworldly creatures. Shemi Dixon contributed 2 pieces, a sunset sky silhouetting a line of trees in deep shadow, and a luminous study of spider webs shimmering in gold. Anne Juan created a wispy lavender field under a matching lavender sky, quiet and serene. Jackie Lahiff went abstract, a fiery piece built from texture and color alone, reds and browns and yellows with no figure resolving out of it. Shannon Ballard painted a whimsical fall tree with swirling leaves set against a glowing sunset. And I contributed a piece of my own, a moon set against a colorful, imagined sky.
If you missed signing up for membership, you can pre-order an extra copy of the Ethereal Glow packet here, for shipping on 10/15/26.
Packet four is already underway. October's theme leans into flora and fauna, distinctive single subject plants and animals, a shift toward gratitude as the season moves closer to the holidays. We will be shipping toward the end of October. Don't miss out, sign up here today!
Lola
