2011- 2025, 701 Center for Contemporary Art Open Studios Participant
2023 Juried into Artfields, Lake City, SC
2025 Jasper Solo Show at Motor Supply Jan-March
2025 November, Southern Exposure Music Festival contributing artist
Artist Statement
When I started this painting I did not have a concept in mind. I began with cut up pieces of old paintings I no longer wanted to store. After much rearranging, a frying pan appeared to me and the words: "Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire".
At that time there was a story in the news about Texas Governor, Greg Abbott's decision to have large rolls of razor wire placed on the Texas bank of the Rio Grande River to deter anyone wanting to exit onto the U.S. shore.
My mind was a swirl of emotions over how impossible their lives must have been to be willing to risk everything to come here....and how dangerous and unwelcoming was the result of their sacrifice.
There is a book "American Dirt" by Jeanine Cummins, fiction, that attempts to paint a picture of what life might be like choosing to make that journey north.