Last fall, I looked around my room and thought: wow, I really have a lot of completed works of art. There were canvases standing against almost every available wall; double and triple layered in some places. My notebook was full of finished sketches of places I had traveled. Oil paintings were carefully drying out on my easel and in the hallway powder room. Quite a few other smaller works had spilled out of my bedroom into the common spaces of my house. I had run out of frames, so many pieces were unfortunately vulnerable to the elements of daily life. I wasn’t in crisis mode yet, but it seemed that if I didn’t take action, my living space would soon be overrun by art.

I am a partially trained artist (I took a few classes in/after college to gain some fundamentals of various media). But as is the case for most practicing artists, I make up a lot of my craft as I go. However, looking around at 40+ pieces of art, many of which had been created in the previous six months, I could see a common thread woven into what was starting to look like a signature style. In a moment of extreme self-confidence, I decided to inquire about what it would take to produce a solo art show.

A former colleague from my alma mater was kind enough to meet for coffee to entertain the idea. Jon basically gave me an art review in the local Starbucks (the store that coincidentally showcases the largest work I’ve ever made). He was surprisingly quick to give an emphatic “yes” to me doing a show in one of the University’s dedicated art galleries, which houses rotating exhibits of professional artists. To say I was humbled and thrilled was an understatement!

At the end of January 2024, I installed Post Scripts: Illuminating addenda for conventional letters to self. For five weeks, 55 of my original artworks were on display (17 of which eventually sold!). My opening artist talk reception was full of people who mean the world to me, as well as plenty of strangers with whom I was happy to connect. My debut show bolstered my confidence in my personal style and made me eager to continue pursuing a career as a non-starving artist. It was really helpful to hear feedback on what resonated with different people and to publicly put my art in the world. I loved the experience so much that I have been working on a second show for this year—more on that soon!

One of my favorite parts of putting together this show was articulating a unifying theme for the works. I wanted to inspire and encourage viewers to chase the things that bring them joy, and allow others to share in the experience. I firmly believe that everyone is creative in their own right and that there will never be a shortage of creativity in the world. The following is the artist statement which accompanied the installation.

Dear artist,
For a long time, I felt the need to pursue only things that would bring me worldly success. I wrote myself many letters of what I thought life should look like. However, establishing a career I loved proved more difficult than anticipated and I struggled to find the stability I craved. So, in the meantime, I turned to things that brought me joy. I dreamt of meaningful creative work and wrote myself a little postscript—I am an artist.

I felt like a fraud in claiming that title, while also finding freedom in its openness. Giving myself permission to explore my art in its many forms helped my spirit grow and in turn, my view of God and his creative abundance helped refine my artistic endeavors.

As humans, we often feel bound to the stories and expectations we’ve written about ourselves. We don’t always give ourselves permission to color outside of the lines. We stay within the margins; we only write on lined paper. I want to challenge that. Through this show I hope to inspire visitors to explore their own access to the creative abundance of God—acknowledging there are vast differences in how our unique creative designs manifest in our lives.

While viewing the works in the show, consider your own letter to self. Is there a post script that you need to examine? Is there a creative outlet you want to explore?

p.s. Creative abundance is free for everyone and only you can create how you create!

SDG

LMB #23