SHOW DATES:

July 16th – August 19th

The idea for this show came to me when I was in the middle of Chemotherapy for breast cancer in October of 2024.

I woke up from a dream one morning in a sweat with the idea of asking Laura Mijangos to do a collaboration with me.  Normally I wouldn’t have acted on this impulse but with the uncertainty of my health journey I risked asking.

I envisioned diptychs with my abstracts and Laura’s hauntingly beautiful figures reacting to them.
During these stressful times I wanted to focus on the magic of life that we can often take for granted.  The themes solidified into child’s play, bird appreciation, music, and nature.

My process involves collage, where I utilize tissue paper, found flattened metal pieces, paint skins (dried paint rescued from plastic pallets) and fabric.

I build layers with these materials and paint, cattle markers, pastels, acrylics and also various stamping methods.

Laura Mijangos-Rapp

I remember as a young girl watching my father paint and my mother cook—the two creating works of art. So, it was inevitable that, I too, would search for a creative expression– for me it was initially sculpture. I studied at Trinity University and graduated in 1979 with a B.A. in Art. However, my career was short lived because I soon married, had children, and that became my focus for many years.

But life has a way of bringing us full circle. Years later, with my children grown, and after the illnesses and deaths of my late husband and parents, a bitter-sweet inspiration was born from this painfully unfamiliar place. Within me there was a longing to articulate something, something that, for me, could only be expressed through art. I had begun dabbling with painting by spending a few afternoons with my father before his illness, never quite completing my paintings. But now with time and healing to be done I returned to those unfinished canvases and began my journey.

When I began to paint, I had no lofty goals or preconceived ideas. I just knew I had to paint. Now as I look back on my work, I begin to see a pattern. In each piece, my subliminal goal is to express something that cannot be expressed in words. “It is the third language”, as my father used to say. It is what is deep within me, created by experiences, some that I cannot remember but they are there just the same, some that are too painful to remember, but have made me who I am. And some that are too beautiful to forget. So, with each piece I begin by laying color, and texture, and emotion, and more color, more texture, more emotion, until I see a moment in my life unfold on the canvas.  And my hope is that my story will speak to someone else’s story.