"Drawings" exhibition

My friend Richard Kelso, celebrated Mississippi artist once said to me, "If a painting is like a novel, a drawing is like a love letter." Drawings, as this quote suggests, are intimate and sincere. The artist's vision and ability are exposed. Each mark represents a decision that can't be covered up like layers of paint. Even erased marks leave a detectable ghost. "Mistakes" become the very thing that makes the work unique because it highlights the fact that it is hand made and human observed.

I have loved to draw for as long as I can remember. As a kid, my best friend down the street and I would draw cartoon characters with his mom often picking out one to buy for a quarter. We may have had a little bit of natural ability, but this wasn't a unique experience. Most children enjoy drawing until they get discouraged along the way. Fortunately, no one told me to stop, so I'm still doing it.

In the exhibition “Drawings” at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College it will be the first time many of these pieces have been exhibited. The selection of 50 pieces goes back to 2003, when I began graduate studies at the New York Academy of Art and continues to the present. It is my hope that from this exhibition the students and public will see my passion for the immediacy of the process, often using non-erasable mediums. I hope that they will feel my love for experimentation with different mediums including graphite, chalk, ink, charcoal, and metal point. And mostly, I hope that they are encouraged to explore and engage with the world through the act of drawing.

“Drawings” is on display at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Jackson County Campus Fine Arts Gallery in Gautier from March 12 - April 16. Opening reception and discussion will be March 12, at 12:15 pm.