Felicia Gilman is a paper cutting artist in Santa Cruz, California. She creates intricate pieces using a simple sheet of paper and her trusty X-ACTO blade. She enjoys the quiet meditative process and the need for patience. Her work is a narrative on memory and loss, layered with protection and security. She seeks to illustrate the relationship between the heartache of life and that which soothes us.

Small Comforts combines Felicia’s delicate papercuts with found antique photographs she has collected through the years. She loves the way each photo can transport you to another time and place, capturing a moment in time of someone else’s story. Like a book, photos can bring comfort. They can momentarily shift our minds away from the negative and pique our curiosity. They can make us smile.

Plants and animals also had to be in this show! They can fix everything! Seeing a chicken look at you up close can make you laugh and lift your spirits. A delicate tendril of a vine reaching up over a neighbor’s fence can spark tenderness in our hearts. When things are hard, finding little joys and small solaces are an important part of coping and feeling safe, especially in today’s harrowing times.

Small Comforts remind us how essential it is to lean into the little things and find soothing in beauty and wonder.