May 2026: Banned!!

I am pleased to have three of my most recent postcard paintings from the Postcards to America series included in the Banned!! Words, Books, People… show at the gallery at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, 601 Montaño Road NW, Albuquerque, 87107.

The opening reception is tonight, Friday, May 1, from 6–8 pm.

There will also be a reading from Banned Books this Sunday, May 3, beginning at 10:15 am, with the closing reception on June 14 from 10 am to 1 pm.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Postcards to America series. I began it in 2019 as a way to process and respond to the accumulation of social and political realities unfolding around me, and I’ve attempted to sort the 24 paintings I’ve completed so far by the issues below.

I originally planned to create one postcard for each of the 56 states and territories of the United States, but over time the project has become more open-ended, evolving in response to events as they happen. Scroll down to learn more about the series.

Black Lives Matter, School Shootings and Gun Violence

As a mother of two biracial, school-aged, children (now adults), the earliest postcards were shaped by the police killings of young Black men, reflected in paintings of Ferguson, St. Paul, and Florida. The Florida piece expanded to include school shootings, which then grew into a broader meditation on all forms of gun violence in the Texas postcard.

Segregation and the Political Divide

My elementary school days in Milwaukee during the 1960s—and the enduring impact of segregation through redlining in that city—emerges in the Milwaukee postcard. Our deep political divisions appear in the Michigan and Georgia works and culminate with references to January 6th in the Arizona postcard.

The Pandemic and Prisoner Rights

As the pandemic reshaped daily life, I responded with the New York and Louisiana postcards. The Louisiana piece also addresses prisoner rights, a theme that returns in the Alabama postcard.

Climate Change, the Environment and the Nuclear Industry

Environmental concerns surface in the Alaska, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii postcards, while nuclear anxiety threads through the New Mexico painting. Also within the Alaska there are references to the impact of climate change on the indigenous people, while the New Mexico painting references the displacement and environmental impact on the local Pueblo and Hispanic peoples.

Ohio, Iowa, California, Virginia and DC

In Ohio, personal and collective memory converge—drawing from my father’s life during depression-era Ohio, along with events ranging from Kent State to the killing of 12‑year‑old Tamir Rice. Intersecting this stories are the ongoing struggles around racial justice, environmental crisis, and state violence. Iowa confronts the rise of book bans, California addresses the homelessness crisis, Virginia highlights the military‑industrial complex, and Washington, D.C. registers the turbulence and urgency of our current national political landscape.

Hidden Stories

Both the Nashville and Harwood postcards explore hidden stories. The Nashville piece highlights the city’s legacy of Black musicians, often overshadowed by the dominant white country music narrative. The Harwood painting memorializes the girls’ school that occupied the site for 50 years and was responsible for the original building and grounds. I would love to portray more of these hidden stories, especially in Albuquerque, my adopted hometown.

Together, these works function as both witness and record—an evolving, deeply personal atlas from the perspective of one artist at a particular moment in time. Each postcard holds a fragment of lived experience, insisting on remembrance while asking what kind of future we are willing to imagine and create.

SAVE THE DATE—Saturday June 13, 5-7pm

Sky of Life Mural Completion Celebration

and

64 Hexagrams Book and Card Deck Release

The Next Best Thing to Being There, 1315 Mountain Road NW, ABQ

Save the date to come celebrate the completion of the Sky of Life mural and the public release of the 64 Hexagrams book and deck of cards!