News
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH), in
collaboration with the DC Office of Planning (OP), awarded me the commission
create the significant project that aims to shed light on the often-overlooked
role of over 200 enslaved people whose labor laid the foundation for
one of the most iconic symbols of democracy. My public art concepts
for DC’s memorial honoring the Enslaved People that built the US
Capitol have many steps to go.
I’m honored to share that the DC Commission on the
Arts & Humanities has awarded me a FY26 Arts and Humanities Fellowship
Program grant. This support helps sustain the work of artists across
the District, and I’m grateful to the Mayor and the Commission
for recognizing and investing in my practice.
The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities has acquired
my piece “It Feels Like I’m Dreaming” for the city’s
Art Bank Collection. Established in 1986, this municipal collection
now includes more than 3,000 works by metropolitan artists and circulates
across District government buildings through the Art Bank Loan Program.
I appreciate the Commission’s ongoing commitment to supporting
local artists and am so pleased to have another work of mine join the
distinguished collection.
Earlier this year, my studio was awarded the commission
to create a new public artwork for Historic Kempsville, near the intersection
of Princess Anne Rd and Witchduck Rd. The piece will serve as a landmark
that reflects the community’s past, present, and future, integrating
Kempsville’s history, cultural diversity, and community spirit
into a sculptural framework of steel and illuminated glass panels.
Throughout the summer, I led community workshops in Virginia
Beach and Kempsville—hosted at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
and the Kempsville Community Center—where residents created many
of the glass components now incorporated into the design. Site foundation
work is complete, the steel structure is in fabrication, and installation
of the community-made glass elements will begin soon.
I was recently awarded the commission to create the exterior
sculpture for the new Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington,
DC. This project holds particular importance, as the school is envisioned
not only as a learning space but also as a symbol of cultural strength,
equality, and progress. The artwork will be developed in close dialogue
with the spirit and mission of the new facility.
I’m creating new works that invite the viewer into
a space where emotion and color briefly align — where color behaves
like emotion itself: unruly, layered, and impossible to contain. My
figurative imagery, rendered in sgraffitoed glass powders, is crossed
by bands of saturated, cut-glass pattern that move through the figures
like a pulse. The deliberately mismatched palettes generate a tension
that feels both intimate and unstable, encouraging the viewer to linger
in that threshold moment — to sense the vibration between connection
and dissonance, and to experience how color can speak when language
falls away. These new works will debut with Habatat Galleries at Glass
Weekend in Sarasota, and later at the International Invitational in
2026.
I was awarded Washington, DC’s 31st Mayor’s
Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts. The DC Commission for the Arts
& Humanities (CAH) has supported my work over the years, and I am
eternally grateful. The CAH has seven of my works in their permanent
collection of art.
The U.S. Department of State awarded me a Fulbright Scholarship.
In 2012, I was Fulbright Specialist at the University of Sunderland
and National Glass Centre in the UK. The people, facilities and workshops
there were incredible and will have a tremendous impact on my work.
I’d like to thank the US / UK Fulbright Commission, the Council
for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) The University of Sunderland,
the City of Sunderland and Creative Cohesion for all their generosity
and assistance in the assignment.