Brookline Town Hall Walls Exhibition Opening

I didn't have my phone on me during the opening (no pockets!), so didn't get any photos from the actual opening, but here are some photos of before/after! We were in the Brookline Tab as the #2 thing to do in Brookline this weekend. Not bad! Also including my statement below. Thanks to all who attended and came out to support local Brookline artists!

Artist Statement

The drawings and paintings collected here speak to the vulnerability, hope, energy, and rituals found in everyday family life, especially in young families. In most of my compositions, the parents are off to the side, or in the background, guiding the children, sheltering them, reading the paper, making sure everything is well. They are not the center of attention, and not engaging in anything exciting.

As I get older, I find myself relating more to the parents than the children in my drawings and paintings, even though I’ve only ever played the role of the latter. I think about how my parents did this for my brother and I when we were children, after years of shabby apartments and piecing together their rent. They bought a house near a park. They bought us new shoes every year that we wore on walks to the park. They bundled us up in hats and snow pants and pulled us on sleds. They brought home books from the library so they could read to us every night. There is a lot of selflessness there, to raise a child into an adult, but the children must figure out where to go from there. Meanwhile, the children I draw are playing, exploring, and being comforted. Drawing the parent/child dynamic allows me to meditate on the different roles that we play throughout childhood and into adulthood and parenthood.