Life in the City

I am so proud to be part of the Capitol Hill Art League’s 15th Annual Open Call exhibition, Living in the City, a group show featuring artwork and photographs by local artists—and I’m especially thrilled that my son, also an artist, will have a piece included in the exhibition as well. The reception will be held at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop on February 7. Juror and curator Barbara Januszkiewicz will discuss the theme and selected works. Join us for an evening of art and community!

Living in the City celebrates the vibrancy and many facets of urban life through a carefully curated exhibition that includes painting, photography, sculpture, works on paper, and multimedia pieces.

FEBRUARY 2 – APRIL 3, 2026

Where: Capitol Hill Arts Workshop

545 7th St SE, Washington DC 20003

Opening Reception: Saturday February 7th from 5:30-7:00 pm

Webinar this Week! Convention 101: Navigating the NAEA26 Experience

This year, the National Art Education Association’s national convention is in Chicago, bringing together art educators from across the country for three inspiring days, March 5–7. Teachers, artists, leaders, and advocates will converge to share ideas, celebrate creative practice, and engage in meaningful professional learning that strengthens art education nationwide. 

The convention will also feature a remarkable trifecta of keynote artists—Bisa Butler, Yvette Mayorga, and Jeffrey Gibson—alongside so many incredible presentations, workshops, meetings, and museum events. The local artist series is chalk full of the finest contemporary artists in the Chicago area: Shannon Downey, Riva Lehrer, Faheem Majeed, Damon Lamar Reed, and Tonika Lewis Johnson. 

I am so honored to have served as a co-coordinator with my friend and colleague, Libya Doman, for this year’s convention. We are looking forward to discussing all the exciting happenings both during the conference and around the city alongside our IAEA colleagues. Join us this Thursday afternoon online as we share all things NAEA convention and Chicago!

Register Here : NAEA Open Studio Conversation | Convention 101: Navigating the NAEA26 Experience

Pink Ambition

 As 2025 came to a close, NAEA announced its annual Member Art Exhibition. I am so tickled to have been selected to exhibit alongside such an inspiring group of art educators whose creative practices continue to shape classrooms and communities across the country. NAEA received 356 entries, with just 70 artworks jury selected for inclusion, making this opportunity feel especially meaningful. Being part of this exhibition is a celebration of both personal studio practice and a shared commitment to artmaking, teaching, and continuous creative growth.

Pink Ambition 

This work is inspired by the vision of feminine leadership: bold yet compassionate. The pink bullseye on the Capitol symbolizes hope for a future where women uplift women, and power is guided by empathy. Art matters because it imagines possibilities, challenges systems, and points us toward a kinder world.

To enjoy the exhibition, visit the newly designed NAEA website. 

Pyramid Atlantic Art Center Annual 10 x 10!

What a fabulous opportunity! I’m so delighted to be part of this season’s 10 x 10 Exhibition and Sale. With 300 artists participating, the show is wonderfully dynamic — and the best part is that you can purchase these artworks at an incredible value.

I have two pieces in the exhibition. Orange You Worried? is a collage originally created for the Orange Monster show at the Kolaj Institute in New Orleans earlier this fall. I also contributed Queen’s Catacomb, a piece inspired by my exhilarating week as a studio assistant at the John C. Campbell Folk School. This curio is built from a squash blossom container structure, one of the forms we taught during the workshop.

Check out all the details here! 

Making Things...

I recently had the privilege of spending a week at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina, serving as the studio assistant for a dear friend as she taught a weeklong Creative Containers course. We arrived not quite knowing what to expect, but fully energized by the promise of a new adventure.

What we discovered was a remarkable experience. The Folk School’s guiding tenets—joy, kindness, stewardship, and a non-competitive spirit—shaped every part of our week. These values foster a nurturing atmosphere where creativity flourishes, and the sense of community is resounding. It may have rained everyday we were there (except the last day) but that did not impact the level of joy for making! The artists in our class were incredibly prolific, often returning to the studio after dinner to continue their work. 

It was an honor to be part of such a meaningful, collaborative space, and I left invigorated with appreciation for the way art-making can bring people together.

Check this out!

I had the chance to do something pretty exciting recently—I was invited to be a guest on a podcast to talk about teaching photography!

It was my first time being on a podcast, so I was thrilled (and a little nervous) to join K12 Art Chat, hosted by Laura and Matt Grundler, a dynamic art education duo based in Texas. We had such a great conversation about all things photography, creativity, and teaching.

If you’d like to listen, check it out here.

Big Orange Monster: An Emergency Exhibition

The Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans recently put out a call for art:

“You mix fear (yellow) and anger (red) and you get a Big Orange Monster. What’s the emergency? There are a lot of Big Orange Monsters on the loose. Monsters only have power if you are afraid of them. So let’s create a space where we can slay our fear of Big Orange Monsters. Art helps us exorcise our demons. Monsters can be glorious and wonderful or horrible and evil. Let’s not cast aside the good Big Orange Monsters because some other Big Orange Monsters are, well… unpleasant.”

This call immediately resonated with me—combining my love of collage and mail art into one outrageous orange opportunity. It felt like the perfect moment to wrestle with the larger-than-life figures that haunt our headlines and cast long shadows over the places where power resides.