MAR - Interlude: Solo Show at Manifest Gallery

Thank you so much to everyone who came to the reception on Friday! It was a wonderful way to celebrate the past year as an artist in residence, and to welcome the next two MARs to the Manifest family. One of my students even brought me the loveliest bouquet of peonies. 

It has been an honor and a privilege to be a part of this excellent organization. I am so grateful to have been awarded this residency; it has been a very inspiring and productive year, and I will treasure this experience always. 

Stay tuned next week for the next great   adventure. 

MAR - Installation

The MAR Showcase opens this Friday. I installed my work last week; there are just a few finishing touches left to complete the show. It has been a great year, and this is a perfect way to celebrate the end of the residency. Check back next week for brand new work and photos from the show!

All of you beautiful people in the Chicagoland area: don't miss the opening reception of New American Paintings: Midwest Edition! Friday May 27th, 6pm at the Elmhust Art Museum. It is a gorgeous, well-curated show and I'm honored to be part of it. Check out their website for details and a list of exhibition events.

MAR - Wabi-Sabi, revisited

A few Sunday thoughts:

"Greatness exists in the inconspicuous and overlooked details. Wabi-sabi represents the exact opposite of the Western ideal of great beauty as something monumental, spectacular, and enduring. Wabi-sabi is not found in nature at moments of bloom and lushness, but at moments of inception or subsiding. Wabi-sabi is not about gorgeous flowers, majestic trees, or bold landscapes. Wabi-sabi is about the minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral: things so subtle and evanescent they are invisible to vulgar eyes. 

... The closer things get to nonexistence, the more exquisite and evocative they become. Consequently to experience wabi-sabi means you have to slow way down, be patient, and look very closely." 

- Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, & Philosophers by Leonard Koren. Page 50.

Non c'è niente nella vita così normale che non possa essere fatto straordinario. 
There is nothing in life so ordinary that it cannot be made extraordinary.

- Italian proverb (from the introduction to Design Elements: Form and Space by Dennis M. Puhalla)

MAR - Recent Details

Happy Mother's Day to my favorite person and my hero. Love you Mom.

MAR - New American Paintings #123: MFA Annual

This year's New American Paintings MFA Annual is on the shelves! I am very happy and humbled to share the pages with these talented artists. Thanks to Steven Zevitas and the Open Studios Press for another beautiful book! Order your copy online here: https://newamericanpaintings.com/issues