BIG News!
So, I said I was working on some big projects, and I'm excited to finally be able to share some details…
First up is this beautiful floral installation I created for a group show called Spring Break that is up in the lobby at Fountain Plaza (50 Fountain Plaza | Buffalo, NY). This piece titled Here With You feels like a nice stretch and next step in my studio practice – a paper collage taking up space like a mural!
My latest art installation "Here With You" in the lobbyway at Fountain Plaza – Buffalo, NY
One of the things that many people gravitated towards and commented on when I had my studio space at the Hunt Gallery Residency were the bright flower cutouts that I had taped up on the walls. I loved them also (so fun! so happy!) but wasn't sure how to utilize them beyond collaging them to paper and paintings. When I was told I would have this wall to showcase some new artwork, my wheels started turning and I thought it could be awesome to see those flower cutouts filling the space – and this piece came to be! There are about 20 flowers ranging in size from six inches to three feet large, all layered and floating dimensionally away from the wall. It's delightful.
I will get some more images of this piece and the other artist's work at the opening reception May 18. If you want to pop over to see it in person, please do! The address is 580 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14202 the building is open to the public during regular business hours and I highly recommend going when Flint is open so you can get some great coffee and tasty pastries or lunch. Yay for taking chances and thinking big!
AVA Collective Spring Popup!
I had such a blast doing in person events last year and I’m very excited to get out there in 2023. I will be at the AVA Collective Spring Pop-up at Resurgence Brewing Co. on April 30 from 11am-5pm. AVA Collective pulls together a great show and I’m excited to vend there for the first time. I will be bringing some new Buffalo, NY themed prints along with other goodies perfect for Spring and gifts for Mother’s Day. Hope to see you there!
I'm in the 2023 UPPERCASE Surface Pattern Design Guide!!
I’m thrilled to finally be able to share that my pattern design work is included in this year’s UPPERCASE Surface Pattern Design Guide! UPPERCASE is a quarterly magazine for the creative and curious inspired by craft, design, typography and illustration. Published since 2009, the magazine has an enthusiastic and loyal readership of designers, illustrators, craftspeople, creative entrepreneurs and paper lovers around the world. Ads-free, with high-quality production values and a unique design aesthetic, the content of each issue is eclectic and inspiring.
Thousands of patterns were submitted to the Guide (I was one of 994 entrants!) and not only will my work be featured in the print magazine, I was also selected by Canadian “House of Paper,” Halfpenny Postage, for a collection of greeting cards – how awesome is that?!?
You can see the spread with my work in the image below. If you are interested in getting your own copy of UPPERCASE (or a subscription!) for loads of creative inspiration, you can use the code
SPDG5save10 for 10% off a subscription (offer expires on April 30).
Hallwalls Drawing Rally, Winter 2023
I was thrilled to be invited to participate in another Hallwalls drawing rally, my fourth! The live drawing rally & online silent auction is my absolute favorite art event in Buffalo. 36 artists draw live over the course of the evening, each starting with the same size (12”x18”) piece of white paper and tasked with creating a unique piece of art in their own style in 45 minutes. There is a DJ and everyone can walk around and watch as artists work on their pieces, which get auctioned off at the end. They are serious about the 45 minutes too – there is a giant clock counting down while you work. A bit nerve wracking, but so much fun!
Here are a few images from the event!
What is Art? (A love story)
I figure most of you are here because you know me, or love art, or love my art. So, here is a story about love, and art!
Aaron and I met in the first period of our first class our freshman year of art school. It was called Methods and Concepts, a foundations of art class, Monday morning at 8am. A short time into that Monday morning class we were divided up into groups to discuss the question – what is art? Our little group of 5 or so went back and forth for a few minutes tossing out things that might be, or might not be art. It can be hard to define art. Is a painting on a wall in a museum art? What about a photograph? Are the marks the cavemen scrawled in the caves art? Is my couch art? What about music or dance? Do they count as art?
The groups dispersed and the teacher opened up the conversation to the class. What is art? One person thought that art was indeed a painting on the wall of a museum. Others thought it was more inclusive and roped in dance and music, sculpture and words. And some of us thought it was concept or intention that made art. Really, anything could be art if it was imagined to be so. A desk could be art. An idea could be art. A life could be lived as art.
Two kids nearing art school graduation, and same kids last month at the Carnegie International exhibition
Aaron and I were very much aligned in the anything can be art camp and that started our friendship. And that friendship grew into a love and that love still grows. And so does our drive to keep exploring art – it is the way we try to make sense of the world around us.
I've found the phrase “blur the lines between life and art” written in several notebooks and sketchbooks over the years. I recently went to a virtual artist talk with two artists who I deeply admire Deborah Roberts and Vanessa German – and that phrase came up in their conversation as well. Let's live life as the ultimate artistic practice and fill our lives with the love and magic of art!
What is art to you? I would love to hear.