Artist Celebrations

Whether dreams are messages from somewhere beyond us or simply our minds sorting through what we have been carrying, this one felt less like a prediction and more like a mirror... For much of my life, fear and scarcity were my default settings. I worried about money, panicked about my health, questioned whether I mattered, and tried to fix everything for everyone around me. I became very good at shrinking myself to fit inside rooms that were never designed to hold all of me.

Creative work is often romanticized as inspiration, color, freedom, and beautiful finished paintings hanging beneath gallery lights. The reality is usually much messier. There are deadlines, logistics, wrapping artwork, carrying canvases, editing presentations, answering emails, promoting events, making decisions, second-guessing those decisions, and trying to remember whether you actually ate lunch somewhere in the middle of it all.

Preparing artwork for an exhibition involves far more than placing paintings into a vehicle and driving toward the gallery. Each piece must be inspected, documented, labeled, protected, & wrapped. Corners need special attention. Large canvases need to be moved carefully. Glassine, plastic, tape, labels, blankets, & more tape begin taking over the studio. With twenty-three paintings waiting for me, including several mammoth canvases, I quickly realized this was not a job I s

There is something wonderfully playful about an exhibition devoted to small works. A painting does not have to be large to carry energy, emotion, or meaning. Sometimes a smaller format draws us closer and asks us to notice the details we might otherwise miss. Being selected for this exhibition is meaningful to me for several reasons. Second Street Gallery has long been a space I admire, and Charlottesville is a community where I hope to continue building relationships...