Archive: Exhibitions + Awards
March 2023
This is when I won Best in Show at the 2nd Annual Emerging Young Artists Exhibition, held at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, OH. With my piece I’m More Than, it was the first time I ever got into an exhibition outside of my school and won an award for my work. This was a huge moment for me because it was the first time I was being recognized for the work I was doing, and it felt great to have people be engaging with my work.
August 2023
Later that year, I got into a show outside of Ohio for the first time, too! It was Who I Am; A Queer Perspective at the Spiva Arts Center in Joplin, Missouri. I traveled with my mom for the opening, flying into Springfield and driving down to Joplin.
I ended up winning 3rd place at the exhibition. This is a picture of me putting the 3rd place award didactic on the wall after the opening and awards ceremony. I had never been this far away from the Northeast before, so it meant a lot to me to see a thriving, diverse community of queer people in a place where I didn’t think many would live and listen to their stories.
October 2023
In September of 2023, a couple of months after first applying, I was notified by the Visual Art Open that I was a finalist in their competition. My piece “I’m More Than” was exhibited at the Truman Brewery in London at their Other Art Fair booth alongside other finalists.
The opening night, I was awarded People’s Choice Winner for VAO 2023. Here is a picture of the certificate I was awarded at the finalists dinner.
I was honestly so honored and a little bit blindsided that I won an award, let alone was a finalist at all. It was surreal to have other people recognizing my work as worthy and was definitely a great moment for my budding artistic career.
February 2024
Every year at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Student Independent Exhibition is held at the Reinberger Gallery. Jurors, voted on by the wider student community, come in and choose the pieces for the exhibition, alongside some of the awards. The jurors for SIE 78 were Haley Josephs, Denis Sarazhan, Bianca Fields, and Ali Hval.
I won two awards at SIE 78: the Almut and Gary Zvosec Award and the Board 2nd Prize. These are pictures of me receiving them from my fellow committee member at the time, Theadis Reagins.
October 2024
In August 2024, I curated an exhibition of 28 transgender artists at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland. The show, titled “Everywhere, All at Once,” highlighted and amplified the voices of transgender people, focusing on the incredible diversity and resilience of the community.
In October 2024, I was nominated for and awarded the LGBT Heritage Day Rising Leader Award by the LGBT Community Center and City of Cleveland for my exhibition.
Presenting me with the award was my peer and friend, Jazzee Rozier, who had a concurrent exhibition at the Center and helped me tremendously throughout the process.