Western Massachusetts
Western Massachusetts marked the beginning of my professional journey as an artist—but creativity had been with me all along.
After years devoted to teaching and other pursuits, art reemerged as a central force. My first significant exhibition, Circles at Blue Moon Coffee Shop, became a turning point, leading to a studio at Indian Orchard Mills and the momentum that launched my professional practice.
Circles
Bluemoon Coffee Roasters, Springfield, MA · 2006
Circles marked my first significant solo exhibition and the true beginning of my professional journey as an artist.
The inspiration for this body of work began with a gift from Frank. After seeing a painting by Wassily Kandinsky in Washington, D.C., Frank brought me back a poster of the work. Something about it immediately resonated with me—the concentric circles, the energy, the vibration, and the emotional power of color.
I became fascinated by how circles could communicate movement, rhythm, emotion, and spirit without representing anything literal.
That inspiration became the foundation for Circles, a series exploring color relationships, balance, and visual energy. What began as experimentation soon became something deeper: a return to art as an essential part of who I am.
Even in this early body of work, another visual language was beginning to emerge—soft horizon lines and atmospheric bands of color suggesting sky, water, stillness, and breath. Looking back, I can see the seeds of themes that would continue to evolve throughout my work for years to come.
Showing Circles at Blue Moon Coffee Roasters was a turning point. It was the first time I truly felt I could claim the identity of an artist—and trust that this path was mine to follow.
Indian Orchard Mills (2008–2019)
My years at Indian Orchard Mills marked one of the most formative periods of my artistic life. Over more than a decade, the studio became both sanctuary and laboratory—a place of daily practice, experimentation, and artistic expansion through open studios and exhibitions. It was here that my work evolved from early abstractions into larger, more expressive bodies of work shaped by color, intuition, and an ever-deepening artistic voice.
Magic & Flow Greenfield Gallery (2018)
Magic & Flow marked a pivotal moment in my artistic evolution, bringing together bold portraiture and increasingly intuitive abstraction. This exhibition explored color, movement, and emotional presence, reflecting the growing relationship between structure and surrender that continues to shape my work. During this period, I became more interested in trusting instinct and allowing the painting process itself to guide me. The exhibition also included my Black Gurl Magic portrait series, celebrating powerful Black women including Laverne Cox, Oprah Winfrey, and Michelle Obama. When Laverne Cox shared my portrait on Instagram, it became a powerful moment of connection and recognition.
Pop Portraits (2016–2022)
Pop Portraits became one of the most enduring threads in my artistic practice, beginning with Dave Hay: Portraits (2016) and expanding into multiple solo exhibitions across Western Massachusetts and later Hong Kong. Shown at Indian Orchard Mills, Storrs Library, Tandem, Starbucks, Strada Shoes, and major exhibitions including Magic & Flow, Hong Kong Cool, Color & Flow, my Art Pop-Up in Hong Kong, and Atlas, the series explored personality, iconography, and emotional presence through bold color, expressive line, and layered abstraction.
These works celebrated figures whose energy and cultural impact resonated with me—from musicians and artists to powerful public figures such as Laverne Cox, Oprah Winfrey, and Michelle Obama. The portraiture became a way of exploring both likeness and essence, using color, distortion, and emotional intensity to reveal something beyond surface appearance.
The series continued to evolve through my years in Hong Kong, where portraiture remained an important part of my visual language. When Laverne Cox shared my portrait of her on Instagram, it became a deeply meaningful moment—affirming the power of art to create recognition, connection, and visibility.
My Summer Vacation (2018)
Rather than a single series, My Summer Vacation was a curated collection of paintings from different periods of my practice, alongside several new works. What tied them together was a shared emotional landscape—warmth, light, openness, and the memory of summers in Provincetown. Through abstraction, the exhibition became less about specific places and more about the feeling of being there.
Hong Kong Cool (2019)
Hong Kong Cool marked the final open studio exhibition of my years at Indian Orchard Mills and served as a bridge between two major chapters of my life and work. After returning home from Hong Kong for a visit, this exhibition became an opportunity to share how profoundly the city had already begun influencing my artistic vision.
The paintings reflected the energy, density, architecture, and constant movement of Hong Kong, while also holding space for reflection and stillness. Bold color, layered gesture, abstraction, and moments of openness came together to explore the tension between intensity and calm, motion and rest.
More than an exhibition, Hong Kong Cool felt like a transition—a closing of my Indian Orchard studio years and the beginning of a new creative chapter. The work pointed toward the visual language that would continue to evolve in my Hong Kong exhibitions, deepening my exploration of presence, energy, and the search for center.
