New Collection deserves a new post. It has been 3 years since my last entry. I guess this answers my pondering of whether I could blog regularly. In creating art I am thankful that I have time to do this regularly. I however do not feel guilt for not posting often mostly because it means my priorities are straight especially during this changing season of my life. I know that in all forms of art those who are supporters and beneficiaries of artists look for those who can build a great social media presence. Like business, most artists are not the greatest of creating a great marketing portfolio that seems natural. I know personally taking photos while I am working seems awkward and showing me in a staged situation is just uncomfortable as well as unnatural. I personally love looking at pictures of Frida, Picasso, and Matisse working in their studios. Yet, there are only a handful of pictures not hundreds of these photos which seem sacred. Perhaps this is my hesitancy in posting multiple pictures of myself and my work. I want to keep things sacred. Hardly anything is sacred anymore.

This new collection is on Statelessness. I started this collection during the height of Covid while residing in New Orleans. My husband’s film shoot shut down with the promise it would only be for 2 weeks. Six months later we were still in New Orleans and I had pinpointed the direction of my next series. After moving to various locations and setting up studios in Chicago, Baton Rouge, and Albuquerque I was finally back in Los Angeles where I could cut my mats and hand them over to my fantastic framer to finish the presentation of my work over the last few years.

With much delay in having a show due to a writers as well as a prolonged actor’s strike I am thankful to now be in Atlanta long enough to pop up the East coast to exhibit in New York City from March 21- March 24, 2024. I am especially grateful for those who have supported me through this collection’s creation. I am specifically talking about the Stateless community that resides here within the United States. I have been humbled and embraced by this group of exceptionally resilient humans and can’t wait to share their stories with others through my art. If you would like to know more about Statelessness here in the United States please visit United Stateless’s website at www.unitedstateless.org. It is a timely subject due to political activity within our own country and around the world that directly affects the lives of those who are already Stateless and those at risk of becoming Stateless. As I have learned over time everything is not so simple in regards to pathways towards citizenship, regretfully they are not straight lines for all.

In order to know more insight to my work I would love to give you some personal advise up front…just talk to me. I am a terrible blogger. I don’t like marketing. I don’t like exposing myself or whatever project I am working on currently. I don’t feel I have the grit to sustain a product or to keep a “branding” attached to a consistent story. In the age of social media as of 2020 I believe this world may be oversaturated with product pushes. I especially feel with so many formulas that seem to manipulate my Instagram or Facebook feed (Life Coaches, MLM’s, or Aspiring Influencers) I can personally not add to the demise of honest human connection and will contribute reluctantly. Maybe it’s because of my age or maybe perhaps because I sometimes live in Hollywood? I am jaded.

I have been asked many times whether I have a blog about our family’s journey. Our family is unique but it’s not outrageous. We travel with my husband on location for his film projects and I create art while in different environments often taking over the kitchen. I meet many families who do this across the country (Mostly Military, Missionaries, or Linemen Families). This decision however is more a choice that has been made for the preservation of our family rather than just for adventure. I think the reason I have not sat down to write a blog about our current situation is because I have been such a failure of it in the past. Specifically when we moved to Kenya Africa to do a children’s show. I also don’t see the purpose of hashing out my personal thoughts and taking time away from creating art in order to tell what is going on behind the scenes. Many past artists survived without blogging about every intimate detail of their lives. They just lived life, created art, and sustained themselves through their drama. I plan to do just that. There is so much more intrigue in the mystery of the unknown.

Let us see where this goes. Perhaps one blog per collection or maybe a full on exposé of all details from creation to exposition. I honestly just need to focus on the present and can not project what may or may not happen in the future because in two weeks we leave for New Orleans and I have to pack us up for four months on location. It’s not an easy task and absolutely not by any means a glamorous routine. And this is why I am not a good blogger, influencer, salesman, or life coach. I am sure Picasso, Michelangelo, or Caravaggio would have never revealed their personal situation in detail or logistical issues in their process even if they were residing in this new age of constant self-promotion. Yes, they all tooted their own horns but they were seen as a painters, artists, and creators without any other identity or preconceived idea of what that meant besides what they said they were. In this vein I tread lightly with a feeling of fear and trepidation. I don’t want to be interpreted as something I am not or something that I am without the personal insight to know my intimate passion or inspiration. And this can not be communicated often in words but in deed. Something a blog can not entirely capture fully.