A huge thank you to everyone who came out on Sat! To my cohort & the organizers of @prequel_pdx, thank you for this amazing program and gifting me the support and confidence needed to push myself as an artist. I have so much love for you all! 🖤 Our group show “View From Here” will be up at @c3initiative until Oct 6. Go see it! My practice is evolving. I have never felt so sure and unsure of my myself. Unsure of where the path of my practice leads but feeling more and more solid in who I am as a person. It’s like the ground is shifting beneath me, not to swallow me whole but to lift me higher and lay out a web of paths before me. #SaturnReturnFeelings 📷: @lu_yim “backstage” at the @cvllejerx Ropa Vieja performance. Thank you @meadow.residency for giving me the opportunity to teach my first ceramics class! I learned so much and got to experience the joy in sharing my craft with such beautiful humans. Thank you all for such wonderful Sunday morning! 🖤🖤🖤 I’m teaching a ceramics workshop Sunday July 15th 2:30-4:30! Click the link in @meadow.residency’s bio for info & registration. 📷: @extracelestial Stages of gestation. blueblack I’ve been thinking a lot about process and how past work can serve as a marker for how much I’ve grown and how my perspective has shifted. I used to look at past work with an air of detachment, maybe even embarrassment, but I think it’s important to see our past as stepping stones to our future. I’m curious, what is your relationship to your past creations? I’ve been a little neglectful of this account and my studio practice in general, that’s because i’ve been fully absorbed in @oriartgallery. A space created by myself and my best friend @enbyonce. Our mission statement is to redefine “the white cube”, by highlighting the voices of queer and trans artists of color. I see Ori as an extension of my art practice. I’m taking a leap into the realm of social practice and reimagining what a gallery is and can be. We’ve only been open for about two months but the lessons i’ve learned have been immeasurable and the feedback from my community leaves me lost for words in all the best ways. If you aren’t already, please follow @oriartgallery to follow my journey and join me in supporting queer and trans artists of color. 🖤 ps Don’t worry! I will still be making ceramics. I would never leave my first love. So be on the lookout for more additions to the Surface Tension series! (pictured) 📷: @misslopezmedia Surface Tension no.2 (detail) The elastic tendency of a liquid surface. Surface Tension Series no. 1 Surface Tension Peace out 2017. Reflecting back on my year I think it’s important to recognize accomplishments and keep pushing for the goals that have yet to be archived. This year I’ve had an exhibition nearly every month. (A few of which were solo shows!) I Presented at @picatba. And completed a sculpture series. All the while dealing sometimes debilitating anxiety and juggling like 3 jobs (shout out to my therapist). Next year is the grand opening of my and @enbyonce gallery @oriartgallery. (Feb 1st 6-10pm) Where we will create space and opportunities for queer and trans artists of color. And in March I will be speaking on a panel @nceca! I’m so incredibly grateful for all these opportunities and so appreciative of my friends and family who continue to love and support me. I know for a fact I would not be here without the support of my community. In conclusion, we out here. Wow, I haven’t posted on here in a min! Hope everyone is doing well! Here’s a birds eye view sneak peek of my new series of sculptures “Surface Tension”. @enbyonce and I will be conducting a participatory discussion for @picatba surrounding the history of art institutions, gatekeeping, queer black art and our motivations behind opening @oriartgallery, a QTPOC focused radical art space. Friday, Sep 15th 10am @ New Expressive Works! My talented friend @extracelestial is launching a new photo series called Portland in Color, highlighting this city's artists of color! I feel so privileged to be her first victim! All jokes aside I feel like this is so needed. We can't sit around and wait for those in power to acknowledge the marginalized. We are out here! Always have always will be. Link to the full blog post in Celeste's bio! TOMORROW will be the closing reception/artist talk for my solo show "Beauty in Fragility" @adxportland's ANX Gallery at 7pm! See you my there! 👀 TONIGHT is the opening of my solo show "Beauty in Fragility" @adxportland's #ANXGallery (1015 SE Stark St) 6-9pm. Im beyond excited and proud to share these works that document 2 years of growth, exploration & acceptance. See you there 👀 A big thank you to @chloealexandraxo for inviting me to participate in Movement for Hope, a fundraiser for Humor for Hope! The event is Tomorrow (Aug 4th) 7-9:30pm 222 SE 10th Ave Portland Or. I'm so honored to showcasing my work alongside so many talented artists and all for a good cause! @humorforhope uses the art of improvisational comedy as a form of inpatient therapy. This healing art form not only targets children with acute, chronic, and terminal illnesses who are confined to isolation wards, but the families and caretakers of these children as well. "Cuando Florecen" (pictured) will be on display and available for purchase! "Beauty in Fragility" opens next Friday, Aug 4th 6-9pm @adxportland's #ANXGallery! See you there 👀 I am so excited to announce that I will be having a solo show "Beauty in Fragility" at @adxportland's ANX Gallery! The opening Reception is August 4th 6-9pm. Beauty in Fragility is the combination of two distinct bodies of work: “Radical Emergence: An exploration in adaptation, sensuality, & abundance” and “Black: Dissected & Articulated." Roughly 2 years of hard work is in this show and I couldn't be more proud to share it with you all! 🖤 I just want to take a moment to say that i'm so appreciative of the wildly talented, creative thinking, supportive people I have in my life. While it is important to strive for goals, It's equally if not more important to pause, look around you, be thankful for what you have. 🖤Photo by: @margejacobsen