Archival pigment print with found straw
17 x 22 in

These prints were made during my residency at Stove Works this past July and August. I used to live in Chattanooga and always enjoyed driving or biking down Rossville Blvd. It always felt very alive and in a state of constant transformation. Returning to Chattanooga after nearly a decade away, I wanted to reconnect with the boulevard. I decided to bike from Stoveworks south along the road, taking pictures and collecting bits of roadside scraps along the way. I was immediately reminded of the colors, textures, and entrepreneurial spirit of Rossville Blvd that inspired me as a young artist living in Chattanooga. While taking pictures on my ride during the residency this summer, I continued to find and collect plastic straws. Back in the studio, I played around with arranging the right straw on the right image. These collages became short poems in honor of Rossville Blvd, and they were an exercise of quick decision-making that was a needed reset for me on the heels of several large projects in Tulsa, OK, where my studio is based.