Art is a gift that enriches me that need never lapse again. Later that year, I took my Tibetan Singing Bowls and dozens of art supplies to a local day center for adults with developmental disabilities and began facilitating twice- weekly meditation sessions and art classes. This volunteering helped me to begin experimenting with a variety of materials and techniques, alongside my learners. In addition to paint, pastels, and print-making, we incorporated plants, decoupage, collage, and natural materials in our work. My tenure there eventually ended, but not my desire to hone my creative skill.
In these recent few years of artistic growth, I have engaged with creatives of every ilk—at gallery exhibitions, in their studios, at craft events, and even as my own graphic design clients—and have learned valuable lessons from each. Their perspectives have helped me to sharpen my own focus to: make pieces that bring me joy, answer difficult questions about womanhood, relationships, ageing, the roles of technology in a fast-paced present, and my place in the world as a Caribbean immigrant.
My pieces explore the individual and their place in the collective. Rather than move across a variety of subjects in portraiture, I examine a single subject through a variety of lenses, from multiple angles, in different media and sizes before beginning another. Each time asking, ‘who is this… why are they here… how do they see themselves… how does the world see them?’ This exploration means that I get to intimately know my subject as I play with light, color, contrast, and negative space in each piece.
