It’s Your World For The Moment (Part One)

Artist Talk, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois

Last week I spoke to a group of art students at Western Illinois University.  I told them about my work, about myself and about the paths that I had taken to get to that moment.  When asked to offer up any words of advice that I might have for emerging artists, I told them to "simply get yourself out there...that you never know who would see your work and what opportunity that may bring".  I shared my story of how doing just that has led me to where I am now and to an art commission that currently covers every open surface in my art studio.

In June of 2015 I received an email from Amy DeLap and Andrew Jendrzejewski of Art Space Vincennes. They were offering me a solo show at their gallery.  Now, to be perfectly honest, I had to Google Vincennes, not knowing where, exactly, it was located. Well, it turns out that Vincennes, is located in Indiana, our next door neighbor!  Founded in 1732 and home to Vincennes University, it is an almost straight 5 hour drive south of Chicago.  

Art Space Vincennes, Vincennes, Indiana

Amy and Andy, artists themselves, had retired from teaching in the Art Department at the University and converted a lovely historic home into a beautiful gallery space.  The story why they invited me to show at their gallery began a year earlier in 2014.  They became interested in my work when they saw it at the Swope Art Museum's annual juried show in Terre Haute.  I applied to that show when I saw that the juror was Carter E. Foster, the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawing at the Whitney Museum of American Art and knew that this was an excellent opportunity to get my work in front of this leader in the art world.  Not only did my work in this show receive an Award of Recognition, but it caught the eye of  Amy DeLap and Andrew Jendrzejewski, leading to my solo show "Surfaces" at Art Space Vincennes.

Yah, that's me on the front page!!

The community of Vincennes was very welcoming and my exhibition was a great success.   Chris Jackson, the Director of Begley Art Source at the Evansville Museum, saw my work and reached out to me regarding the possibility of a commission for a new hospice that was to be built by the Deaconess Health System in Evansville, Indiana. I was asked to present a proposal for an art piece that would be hung behind the front desk of the lobby of this new facility.  Inspired by my fiber and encaustic wall-hung sculpture "Wallflower", this piece, upon completion will be 3' high and 7'wide and is titled "It's Your World For The Moment".

This story continues in my next post!