Why I Make Art:

I am a storyteller. I think I was born that way. From my earliest memory I was fascinated with Bible stories and fairy tales and the narratives of the real lives of real people. I listened to the grown ups talk and I sucked down bedtime stories like milk. The day I learned to read  for myself may have been the most magical day of my life.

I have spent most of my adult life traveling the country telling stories to audiences of all ages. I love when the listeners get as caught up in the tales -- both made up and true  -- as I do.  I love when Gullah songs and heritage become real to them and when an old Japanese folk tale helps us make sense of our own lives. I love stories! 

I also love faces -- so many stories are stored in the fold of an eyelid and the curve of a lip.  And I love hands--how they store potential energy that might spring any moment into action.  I've been making art almost as long as I've been a storyteller. I was the kid in kindergarten who lit up when the crayons came out. When my daddy bought me a Grumbacher oil painting kit in 1973 it was like the world opened up again.

Lately I've been painting people and collard greens. Greens represent so much to me. They are heritage and history and family gatherings. They are nourishment and strength and tales told  around kitchen tables. My daddy was a gardener and there were collard greens in every yard of my childhood. I just bought a new house and am putting in the first garden I've planted in years. Yes -- there will be greens.

    Here's how to keep up with my art and stories:

Galleries and Shows:


Art Shows:
 
ArtWorks resident artists’ group show, Beaufort, SC --  November, 2008
Living Mouth to Hand, Solo Art Show and Performance, ARTWorks, Beaufort, SC – February, 2009
Green Herring Gallery, Beaufort, SC – March 17 – 26, 2013
Penn Center Gallery, St. Helena Island, SC – April 1 – 19, 2013
Passages Art Show – Emanuel AME Church, Charleston, SC -- October, 2013
Cultural Expressions Art Show 2015, Brunswick, GA -- February, 2015
ISMS Art Show – February – May 2015, Avery Institute -- Charleston, SC
Jubilee Artists Exhibit – African American Civil War Museum, Washington, DC --  
April, 2015
Black Like Me Art Exhibit – Tua Lingua Art Studio, N. Charleston, SC -- May, 2015
Slave Dwelling Conference Exhibit – N. Charleston -- September, 2015
Greens in My Garden, Solo Show – N. Charleston Coliseum, October –
November,  2015
Group Show, Beach Institute, Savannah, GA  (2/2016)
Collard Season, Solo Show - McClellanville Arts Center (November 2016 - January 2017)
Saints & Angels, Solo Show - Rice Museum, Georgetown, SC 
Feast Your Eyes, Food and Art, Burroughs and Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC (2017)
Dialogue in Black and White, City Gallery, Charleston, SC 2018
Rag Quilts & Collard Greens, Solo show, Center for the Arts, Beaufort, SC 2019
By Hand, Solo show, Rice Museum, Georgetown SC  2020
Rag Quilts & Collard Greens, Solo show, CAVA Gallery, Gaffney, SC
Solo show, Kassab Gallery, Francis Marion University, 2022
Gourd & Vessels, Noble Gallery, Brookgreen Gardens, 2022
Greens Grow in my Garden, Burroughs & Chapin Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC 2022