My LSU Vet Med Exhibition and Opening Reception!

August 10, 2022 in Exhibitions, Presentations, Residencies

Here are photos from my solo exhibition and opening reception at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, co-sponsored by the LSU School of Art! The reception was amazing; over 80 people attended and they were all very engaged throughout the evening. We began with a welcome speech delivered by LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Oliver Garden, followed by speeches from LSU College of Art + Design Dean Alkis Tsolakis and LSU School of Art Director Rod Parker, and then my artist lecture!

By the end of the evening, 6 of the 8 paintings/relief/sculpture were sold (only Hosts and Singularity remain available), and 3 of the 13 ceramics were purchased in addition to countless prints and greeting cards. Through the course of the rest of the exhibition, 3 more ceramics sold along with additional prints and greeting cards. I was a little surprised at how popular the mosquito reproductions were as they sold out quite quickly, but I’ve since learned there’s a well-known joke that mosquitoes are the state bird of Louisiana!

In the slideshow, you’ll see that in addition to the artwork walls and reproduction sales table, I also had a display table of some of the veterinary materials - medicines, chemicals, stains, tools, bones - I used in each of the pieces of artwork!

Publication in the Tulane Review

January 16, 2019 in Articles

Two of my pieces of artwork, Balancing Act and Camelflage, were selected at the end of November for inclusion in the Fall 2018 edition of the Tulane Review. I was waiting to post about it until I could share some pictures of the actual magazine since they mentioned sending me a contributor’s copy, but it’s been a little while without seeing it in the mail and I wanted to share the news so I’ll just update if/when I receive it!

Quinta del Sordo Exhibition!

July 19, 2017 in Exhibitions, Residencies

My exhibition, titled "In the Dark" (in Spanish), associated with my Intercambiador ACART residency is opening tomorrow evening! I haven't been able to take a photo of the second sculpture I made yet for various reasons, but the show will have two interactive sculptures of mine as well as five paintings (two of which I just finished and also have yet to post online!). The exhibition will be held in Quinta del Sordo here in Madrid, Spain, and will be up from July 20-28th. Here's the exhibition card:

Goppert Gallery Exhibition Photos!

December 12, 2016 in Exhibitions, Events, Teaching

Here are some images of the show! I got sidetracked by an alumna when I was walking around photographing so I haven't taken pictures of the whole of the show yet, but that just means there's more to experience if you want to stop by - the show's up through the 15th.

An image of my wall of artwork from the exhibition.

Goppert Gallery Exhibition

December 09, 2016 in Exhibitions, Teaching

I'm exhibiting my series of botanical-garden-themed mixed media reliefs made on residency this summer at La Maison Verte in Marnay-sur-Seine, France, as well as the first three paintings in my ongoing puffin series inspired by my 2014 Icelandic residency in the University of Saint Mary's Goppert Gallery! My work is in its own distinct space, but the Gallery has a number of rooms to it and is also simultaneously exhibiting student artwork from this past semester as well as our graduating senior Brandon Handy's senior thesis exhibition, "Nature from Afar and Close-Up." The gallery is free and open to the public, with exhibition dates and times as follows:

December 9-15, 2016, 10am-4pm with an opening reception today from 3-5pm - complimentary refreshments will be served.

If you'd like to join us, Goppert Gallery is on the ground floor of Xavier Hall on the University of Saint Mary's main campus found at 4100 S. 4th Street in Leavenworth, KS. Here's the full press release if you're interested, though since we sent it out we've changed a few details so this post has the most current information.

I'll upload some photos shortly!

Upcoming - The St. Augustine Art Association's 7th Annual Nature and Wildlife Exhibit

June 26, 2016 in Exhibitions

Whew, I've got a packed exhibition schedule coming up - not that I'm complaining! Here's another confirmation that just came in. I've been selected to exhibit two pieces, Perfect Form and Balancing Act, at the competitive 7th Annual Nature and Wildlife Exhibit held by the St. Augustine Art Association.

Opening reception and awards ceremony: Saturday, July 23, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Exhibition dates: July 23 - August 28, 2016
Gallery hours: Tue-Sat: Noon to 4pm, Sundays: 2-5pm, Artwalk: First Friday of every month 5-9pm
Location: St. Augustine Art Association, 22 Marine St., St. Augustine, Florida, 32084
Contact: 904-842-2310, www.staaa.org

Bison Are the First National Mammal!

May 16, 2016 in General Interest, News

How cool is this - President Obama has signed the National Bison Legacy Act making bison the first national mammal (though bald eagles are still secure in their national animal status).

To celebrate, here's a gallery of all of my bison paintings completed thus far!

Puffin Painting #1 - Byssal Bird

March 18, 2016 in New Artwork

And here's the finished first painting! It's a conceptual, experimental piece - those are real Atlantic blue mussel shells (Mytilus edulis) adhered to the panel; I beachcombed some while I was in Iceland and was quite interested in their coloration and form and how I might use them to break the picture plane. I wanted to explore ideas of illusionism, perspective, shaped or irregular canvases, cast shadows, organic versus architectural form language, and intertidal zone ecosystems.

I'm titling this painting Byssal Bird, and it's a mixed media piece with acrylic, watercolor, Atlantic blue mussel shells, and epoxy on a 16x12" basswood panel.

Puffin Painting #2 - Littoral Layers

March 16, 2016 in New Artwork

I'm almost done with the first puffin painting - the one I gave you a sneak peak of - but in the meantime I'm potentially done with the second; I've been adjusting it over the past couple days and I may go back into it again, but here's where it's at now. If I do go back into it, it'll be for minor changes at this point. I'm typically pretty bad about taking progress photos (particularly in taking well lit/consistent lighting source ones, so please excuse the slight lighting changes in the thumbnails) but I'm trying to make more of an effort to document my processes.

I'm titling this one Littoral Layers. The final piece is graphite, charcoal, and acrylic on a 16x20" basswood panel. I typically do start with a line drawing (after preliminary sketching, of course), but then in paintings where I add to the natural support media for the background, I usually paint in the beginnings of a background before moving on to the foreground elements and then go back and forth until there's a resolution. This painting was different in that I really developed the foreground elements before addressing the background, though after that I did my normal switching back and forth routine.

New Series Started - Puffin Paintings!

March 12, 2016 in New Artwork

I've started a new series of paintings on the juvenile puffin, Toti, that I met at the tail end of my residency in Iceland in 2014. Toti was a puffling that failed to launch and imprinted on humans, so he is now a permanent resident at the Saeheimar Aquarium. I wanted to start on these pieces sooner, but better late than never.

Here's a sneak peak of progress on the first painting!

The Saga of My Most Recently Commissioned Amphiuma Painting

November 12, 2015 in New Artwork, Commissions

Recently, I was hired to do another commissioned painting of an amphiuma - an aquatic salamander with vestigial legs that looks like an otherworldly sea serpent or eel. My patron saw my first commissioned amphiuma painting done for Dr. John Pojman (it hangs in his office above his amphiuma Chrissy's aquarium) and wanted an original piece for herself.

The previously commissioned portrait of John's amphiuma Chrissy.

Unfortunately, after mailing the new piece off to my customer and tracking it through delivery, there was radio silence. I worried that she didn't like the piece but also considered that she may have just been waiting to open it on a specific date (an upcoming birthday, for instance) so I made a mental note to send her an email in a week or two to check in. Before I could, she emailed me, and it transpired that the package was, in fact, not delivered (or possibly, not delivered properly and stolen off communal property).

Queue multiple weeks of back-and-forth with UPS, but finally the insurance paid out such that I had been paid to make the commission and my client received a refund on never having received the commission, so we were both made mostly whole again. Even though it's possible it's now lurking in a box in a UPS subbasement or was pawned for the value of the frame, I like to imagine the painting is hanging in a place of pride over a drug lord's couch somewhere. Since I do have the digital image, though, I can at least run off reproductions, so it's not completely lost to the world.

Nau Côclea Residency - Artwork

June 16, 2015 in Residencies, New Artwork

Here's the first painting I've been working on. I'm tentatively calling it completed, but I may revisit it as the residency progresses.

The paper is heavily textured with ridges and translucent stripes, and the snails are painted in acrylic. The working title is Côclea Casas.

There are donkey pieces in the works as well, but they're all still very early...