The last few months have been busy and fun with my time in the studio broken up by periods of travel. Since December, I’ve traveled as a visiting artist to Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California and just returned this week from Houston, Texas for my current group show at Hunter Gather Project, Progressions. It’s always rewarding to engage with others through art and to spend time with close friends… both trips provided an abundance of both!

For the next few months I’ll work on finishing up current prints, starting some new ones and building some much-needed equipment for my studio.

Visiting Artist at Idyllwild Arts Academy

Invited by Linda Lucia Santana and the Visual Arts Department, I was the printmaking visiting artist March 3rd-8th at Idyllwild Arts Academy, a high school for the arts in the San Jacinto Mountains. During my week there I gave an artist lecture to the senior seminar and printmaking students, taught a two-day screenprint workshop and with the help of Linda’s printmaking students, created three small screenprint editions. I was tremendously impressed with the talent and commitment of the students at Idyllwild. They are an inspiring group of motivated, creative minds and I’ll be excited to watch them as they move forward after graduation.

Hunter Gather Project & My Houston Activities

My work is currently in a group show, Progressions, at Hunter Gather Project in Houston alongside the work of Arielle Masson and Samara Rosen. I attended the opening on Thursday, March 26th and gave an artist talk with Arielle and Samara on Saturday, March 28th. I’ve followed Hunter Gather Project’s exhibitions for about a year and was excited at the opportunity to show with them. The people that run the gallery are top-notch and I love the gallery’s mission to present art in a high quality, professional manner while simultaneously making art accessible and engaging.

The exhibition will be up until May 9th, 2015. If you’re in Houston and want to check it out, visit Hunter Gather’s site for gallery hours and location!

During my time in Houston I also gave two artist talks to Art Appreciation students at Lone Star College-Montgomery in The Woodlands and screenprinted parts of a current print-in-progress at Burning Bones Press. In the next few weeks I will be cutting out the shapes and collaging them onto a larger woodcut.

Upcoming: July Residency at Southwest School of Art

For the last few months, Nicole Geary and I have been collaborating cross-country on an artist book edition. To help us complete our project, we submitted some applications behind the scenes and were awarded a Paper & Book Arts Residency at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, TX. I’ll head to San Antonio July 17th-31st to meet up with Nicole, print and assemble our book, and soak up some Texas heat (aka, wilt under the sun).

My work out in the world

Re-Riding History

A variation of my letterpress print, I don’t understand., is one of 72 works included in the Re-Riding History project, curated by Emily Arthur, Marwin Begaye and John Hitchcock. The project “metaphorically retraces the history of seventy-two American Indian peoples who were forcibly taken from their homes in Salt Fork, OK, and transported by train to St. Augustine, Florida.” Each artist was asked to respond to this painful period of our American history with a work on paper in the same dimensions as the historic ledger drawings made at Fort Marion during this time of unjust imprisonment.

The project is traveling over the next few months and can be viewed at the following institutions:

Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, Flagler College, January 16 - February 27, 2015

Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College, March 13 - April 6, 2015

The A.D. Gallery, University of North Carlina - Pembroke, Aprill 22 - June 10, 2015

To view the artwork included in the project or to read artist statements and press, view the Re-Riding History site.

Mondo Tondo Portfolio Exchange

My screenprint, The mountains saved my soul, is included in the Mondo Tondo portfolio exchange, organized by John Driesbach. The prints are all 15-inch circles, the portfolio was accepted into SGCI Knoxville and was on display during the March 18th-21st conference.

Thank you to everyone who's made the last few months happen:

Ben, Diana, Florence, and Heather for assisting me with my print editions at Idyllwild.

Linda Lucia Santana, Gerald Clarke and Idyllwild Arts.

Margaret Smithers-Crump, Laura Rossi and Hunter Gather Project.

Delaney Smith at Lone Star College-Montogomery.

Carlos Hernandez, Christopher Wallace and Burning Bones Press.

 Emily Arthur, Marwin Begaye and John Hitchcock of the Re-Riding History Project.

 John Driesbach, organizer of Mondo Tondo.