Creating, learning, growing…

Hello studio friends! I'm overdue for an update. Engaged in many projects and efforts lately, I've been very much focused on the administrative side of my business. I've been working with some great people and i'm excited to share all the various projects i'm juggling, and the wonderful folks i'm working with!

Before diving in - allow me to share a recently completed artwork with you!

I'm proud to have shipped off the above custom commission to Atlanta for framing last month. It's final destination is Denver. It's sized 55"x43" and took ~90 hours of work between my assistant and myself to complete.

 This commission came through Kalisher, a hospitality art curation company based in my city - Durham, NC. Last fall I ran a delightful group sculpture project with the Kalisher folks during a company retreat, and i'm very grateful for the continued work they bring me!

Check out the process reel for the creation of this artwork by clicking the button below!

The design for the above piece is based the Epic commission which was installed locally last June (it's hard to believe that was a year ago already!) 

I'm delighted to update you that I landed the below diamond proposal I wrote about in February! This project consists of 140 reflective gold acrylic diamonds and is currently in fabrication. The work will be installed in New York City(!) in late July (coming up quick!) 

What's unique about this project is that my services are very truly design-only. The sales, fabrication, management, shipment, and and installation are all being handled by others. Outsourcing is a wonderful development for the health of my business - more on that later…

I want to give a special shout out in gratitude to Stefanie from the Gensler NYC office for advocating for the incorporation of this installation into her client's new corporate headquarters. Thank you so much!!

This gold diamond commission was brought to my studio by ArtLifting, a social benefit art curation corporation which specifically works with artists who have been impacted by homelessness or disability. This company brought me the Colorado Springs mountainscape project, and beyond their incredible mission, their leadership is truly wonderful to work with. (I'm talking about you Sadie and Elliott!)

To learn more about ArtLifting and their mission, click the button below. 

To learn more about my story becoming an artist, overcoming disability, and reinventing myself, click the button below!

This year i've incorporated learning about entrepreneurship into my daily routine. To scale my business up, I need to outsource in order to free up my time for those tasks which only I can complete. My first outsource was getting support with cleaning my home and studio last year. Earlier this year I hired a social media virtual assistant, and recently, a book keeper as well. 

Outsourcing fabrication is something I resisted the idea of for many years, perceiving it as disingenuous. In actuality, I've found that working with fabrication partners has been a fabulous development for both my business and my personal life. (Finding the right fabricators has been the key!)

My primary fabrication partner is Scott at Obsidian Solution based in Dallas, Texas (shown above holding a mobile I created). I met Scott around this time last year through my design licensing deal with Unika Vaev. We currently meet on a regular basis to discuss the prototyping and production of my very first product line (more on this exciting development soon!!), as well as other sculptural artwork inquiries.

Scott has become a mentor and friend and we both enjoy our weekly calls. Working with Scott has allowed me to say “Yes” to a lot more variety of work. The gold diamond project mentioned previously is the first job we've successfully landed together! Go team!!

The largest (in terms of time/energy, budget, and impact) project i'm working on currently is the Stitching Stories Reimagined public art project. The above artist team and Arise Collective (a community-based nonprofit that works with women both before and after their release from prison) were selected for the second cohort of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation’s Inclusive Public Art Initiative. Arise was awarded a $300k grant as one of nine organizations across NC who are using public art to spotlight untold or under-told stories in our community.

This project showcases the Stitching Stories Prison Awareness Quilt (shown above) comprised of 751 squares crocheted by over 70 incarcerated women during the pandemic. Each color represents one woman's story, and each square of the quilt represents one year of incarceration. The artist team is working directly with the four leading crochet artists to reimagine the quilt into permanent form so that its legacy will live on for decades to come. 

The project includes design of both the artwork and a shipping container - in which the artwork will live - which will travel throughout North Carolina (and likely beyond) to spread awareness for incarcerated persons by uplifting their voices, visually representing their collective years of incarceration, and outlining their adverse experiences therein. 

As co-lead artist, I'm spearheading the design effort by hosting weekly design calls, facilitating project organization, working with the project architect, and coordinating with the team members committed to bringing this project to life! 

The quilt squares will be created using mosaic art produced by Carlos Gonzàlez of NC Mosaics, the sculptural substrate which will receive mosaic will be designed by yours truly, a mirror reflection wall featuring portraits of the original quilt artists will be designed by David Wilson, architecture of the shipping container which will house the traveling exhibit is generated by ProtoLab out of Houston, Texas, and photography which will adorn the outside of the shipping container will be captured by Owens Daniels.

The sculptural modules of the “quilt squares” are based on the design I created in 2021 entitled Emerge (shown below). 

This week we are wrapping up the schematic design phase for the Stitching Stories project, and moving on to design development. Construction documents + prototyping phase will begin in September.

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a team dinner which was attended by two of the four formerly incarcerated primary quilt artists. Afterward, we visited my art studio. Shirlye, who was incarcerated for 5 years and 10 months, and is also a team member / project coordinator, is shown below in my studio on the left. Violet, who was incarcerated for 24.9 years, is shown on the right. (Turbo, the pup is shown in the center.)

I highly recommend listening to Violet and Shirlye's personal survival stories and how they relate to the quilt. To do so, click the button below.

I'm very excited to share continued updates on this project as it progresses!

A completely unrelated effort - but one for which I'm equally excited - is the development of Folded Poetry sculptural shapes created for art licensing through ArtLifting (mentioned above). 

ArtLifting is funding the prototyping efforts for the creation of modular sculptural shapes. The project is being managed by my long-time friend and graduate school colleague Jake Heffington and his business partner Emily Fiedler through their architectural (and then some) business called And Other Works…

Their shop is based here in Durham only a stones-throw down the road from my home and studio.

Jake and Emily began the project by performing a variety of material studies at a small scale - plaster, ceramic, rockite, resin and wood were included. They then brought in other fabricators to create full-scale mockups.

We have decided to move forward with cast rockite and resin shapes, for which ArtLifting will have exclusive rights to the specific designs, and are currently prototyping mounting solutions. My goal is to have a completed commission using these sculptural shapes by year end! 🤞🏻

To learn more about And Other Works… you guessed it - click the button below!

My dear friends thank you so much for your continued interest in my wild career of creative entrepreneurship.

Did you enjoy this newsletter? You can support my small business by sharing my work with an art-loving friend!

So much gratitude to you,