Archive: Exhibitions + Awards
February 2022
Every year at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Reinberger Gallery holds the Student Independent Exhibition, which is a showcase of student work chosen by jurors.
In my freshman year of college, I got into SIE 76 with my piece “Self-Made Man.” This was the first time any of my work was ever shown in a gallery setting, so it was a huge deal for me.
February 2022
Another picture of my piece in the exhibition.
March 2023
In March 2023, my piece “I’m More Than” got into the 2nd Annual Emerging Young Artists Exhibition at Valley Arts Center in Chagrin Falls, OH. It was the first time any of my work was featured somewhere outside of my school, so it was a big deal to me.
I think it was a great experience to dip my toes in the water of the gallery world for the first time, and I’m eternally grateful for the folks at the Valley Arts Center.
May 2023
In spring 2023, I was nominated by a faculty member to be a part of a project at the Cleveland Museum of Art. They were looking for a student from CIA, alongside other community members, to choose a piece from the collection and talk about it in relation to American history, but also to their own lived experiences.
May 2023
Running from May to August, each community member had a didactic displayed next to their chosen work as way to engage museum visitors with different perspectives and bring the community together. The project was called “The American Dream: Community Voices.”
May 2023
In my didactic, I discussed why Alice Neel’s Jackie Curtis and Ritta Redd was meaningful to me as a representation of queerness and the idealized version of the “American Dream.”
May 2023
The project was super cool to be a part of. My favorite part was choosing a piece, as well as going through the other didactics to learn about different perspectives. It was a great way to highlight the varied identities and perspectives within the Cleveland community related to art. It also made me think more in-depth about how other people could engage with and understand art.
May 2023
August 2023
This is me with my piece at Who I Am; A Queer Perspective in Joplin, MO! It was the first time a piece of mine was exhibited outside of my immediate locality, as well was the furthest into the South I’d ever been.
The experience of showing my work in Joplin completely changed my perspective on the queer community in general. Although it was the first show of its kind in the area, the queer community of Joplin was open and proud and visible. I talked with many locals at the show who gave me insight into their lives and perspectives, helping me understand that the queer community of Missouri was just as unapologetically vibrant and diverse as any other.
October 2023
This is a picture of me with my piece at the Truman Brewery in London. My mom and I flew into London to see my work in person. We decided to make the trip because this could very well be the only time my art was ever going to be shown outside of the US.
Exhibiting my work overseas was a surreal experience for me. I was surrounded by incredible artists making so much diverse, unique work. Between getting to talk with artists, see so much art, go sightseeing, and even meeting a longtime internet friend, my overall experience was amazing and one I’ll never forget.
February 2024
This is me with my piece I Love My Trans Body at the 78th Student Independent Exhibition. Two of my pieces got into the show and both of them won awards.
This piece is self explanatory – it’s a declarative statement about me loving my trans body. The painting itself is on a 20x30 canvas, the composition amplifying the constraint of the substrate and the fetal position of the figure.
February 2024
This is me, again, at SIE 78 with my second piece, Bound.
April 2024
In the spring semester of my junior year, I was in a class where all of the visual arts students had to organize an exhibition. For our show, we teamed up with Progressive. To commemorate the closing of their main campus building, we were each paired with an artist’s work from their collection and had to respond to it with our own work. This is my response to Kerry James Marshall’s Bang.
August 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.
August 2024
These are some pieces from the exhibition.
August 2024
As a trans artist who explores my identity in my own work, I wanted to give other trans people space for their voices to be heard. Especially in the current socio-political climate where being trans is demonized, I wanted to cultivate a space where trans joy could be heard, seen, and expressed.