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S hoosty Bugs made its debut show at the Mills Gallery in Orlando during the holiday season running from Dec. 2022-Jan. 2023. It was curated by Jennifer McInnes Coolidge and hosted by Boris Garbe, Gallerist. Becuase this was the first time to show “the bugs” I did not know what format would be the best. I felt that to see the work at scale would make the biggest impression. So, I decided to bring samples of finsihed work and the rest would be huge posters, some 12 feet long. The idea was to show people various formats they can get finished work. Otherwise, if I just make things they can get large and expensive requiring special handling. I didn’t have any sales lined up, so I didn’t want to be burdened with the special handling. The result was more of an exhibition than a show. The gallery was disappointed thinking I had little to sell directly off the wall. Shows are very busy times. Everyone wants to talk with the artist and most sales operate on impulse. One thing that did sell quickly were the scarves I made with bug patterns. One of the best things to come from the show was meeting Zach Zacharias, the Senior Curator for exhibitions at the Dayton Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS). He invited me to see the facility and gave me a special teaser; private time with the insect collection. As a special treat I met my daughter, Carly, at the museum and we spent the afternoon blistfully drawing. She is an Art Historian and Master of Sequential Arts (comics).
We walked around the facilities. The museum is 100,000 sq. ft. It comprised of two main buildings. One building has the most ex- tensive collection of Florida landscape paintings I have ever seen; absolutly essential to understanding Florida history and the other building has lots of galleries with an eclectic collection. The high- lights are: a large fossilized ground sloth; a wooly mammoth; an expose of the history of the Coke-a-Cola Bottle; a fiber gallery full of large exciting pieces; a Cuban exhibition; and more, including a curiosity; Napoleon’s death bed and his death mask. We were en- thralled. Earlier that day I took a long walk with Zach. He pointed out his favorites in the collection and showed me his enthusiasm in ev- erything he does. When the tour was over he introduced me to the executive director and on the way to see her I saw a library with a huge table. It was at least 20’x30’. As soon as I saw it I got excited and asked to run out to my van. Since I had just closed the Mill’s Gallery show I had the huge posters with me. I spread those out and filled up the entire table. I could not have asked for a more exciting impromptu introduction. Soon after, I was asked to be included in show at thie museum fea- turing the bugs in 2025.
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