In October 2018, I set up a Pop Up Shop for 3 days in a commercial space near my house. Here is the collection of paintings that I made in 2013, The 1,000 Project. In the video, it takes me 37 seconds to hang the show, but in reality it was much longer.
The 8 x 6 work on paper is from a group of 1,000 paintings that I created starting January 1, 2013 and finished July 15. All of the pieces focus on the theme of “House.” I worked in groups of 6 and each set had similar elements of color or collage. The collage pieces came from donated items from people on my mailing list. I asked them to donate old journals, mementos, love letters, homework, math, essays, yearbooks, etc. I had 50 people donate to the project. I told them that I would never reveal who they were or return their items. I kept track of whose things were in each piece by a code on the back of the piece. Then when my donor came to the show I could give them the numbers of the paintings that contained their stuff. Many people purchased their own things incorporated into the art.
I created the first 500 paintings in my studio in Houston and then had a show. The second set I created in Maine and then showed the entire 1000 pieces.
I have been drawn to house images in my work for several years now, exploring the notion that no home/hearth can withstand the weathering of life. The water and the wind, both literal and figurative, do their damage. And we are left with the remnants—ragged bits that we reweave, with soul and spirit, into a new image of “home.” The cycle goes on: deconstruction and reconstruction. Broken hearts and mended ones. We gradually learn that the cornerstone of our lives is not really our home, but our heart connection with the universe.
My studio is in my home in Houston, TX
Education
Museum of Fine Arts, Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX
University of Houston, Houston, TX
Houston Community College, Houston, TX
Grossmont Community College, El Cajon, CA
Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Bachelors of Arts
Art Studio and English
Framingham State College, Framingham, MA