Exhibitions
Art given from the heart can ripple outward—toward healing, access, and community. Below are exhibits and donations that mean the most to me.
HOPE Exhibit & Gallery
With my cousin’s encouragement, I submitted two pieces to the HOPE project in Virginia— a permanent sculpture of the word “HOPE,” surrounded by selected artworks and an accompanying healing arts gallery. As a breast cancer survivor, this project lives close to my heart. What made it even more tender: my cousin and her sister also submitted work. Three women, three roles—survivor, caretaker, patient—woven together by art and by hope.
Thousands of artists sent designs; about a hundred were chosen for the HOPE sculpture itself, and only twenty-six were selected for the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery. All three of us were among the twenty-six. It felt like a quiet miracle—proof that healing can be communal.
Red Dress Run
New Orleans knows how to move—joy forward, color first. Red Dress Run is a city tradition that raises funds for local causes, and my series leans into that rhythm: brass and heartbeat, the bright swish of fabric, strangers becoming a parade. These paintings track motion and memory—the way celebration can also be care.
A colleague encouraged me to submit a design for the event. My drawing was chosen to be printed on the official cooler—given to the first 3,000 participants who signed up for the run. To know that my art traveled through the hands of so many in the city made the project feel even more communal, like a ripple of color moving outward.
This body of work began with street sketches and quick color studies. From there I layered mixed media—inks and mark-making until the pieces felt like music: playful, generous, unafraid of joy. The red dress is a costume, yes, but it is also a flag for community: an invitation to step in, laugh louder, and lift together.
Cause Pieces
These donations grew from gratitude—art as service, color as kindness. Read the full stories here: Mermaids & Mayhem and Justice for All Ball.