While getting my children ready for school last fall we were pulling together pencils, folders, colored pencils, and crayons. They had to have 4 sets of 24 crayons each and we had leftovers from sets of the past years, some colors had never been used, and we were combining them together so we’d know how many new boxes would be required. The kids were talking about their friends at the new school and friends of their past school. In the conversation, they were describing the children “the girl with the yellow hair, the boy with the brown skin”, in a very causal descriptive manner with no malice to the differences. This made me think more about how we see people and how one is judged. The smell of the crayons, the vivid colors, and the thoughts of my youth brought me to this crayon project. How we change in our viewpoints of people, and how we judge people based on race and color. We are all one below that surface, that surface of skin, no matter the color, the shape, or the origin.

UNDER THE SKIN
Crayola Crayon
8’ x 6’ x 1.5”, 2015

Sold M.A. Doran Gallery

Collection of: Tulsa Public Library, Downtown, Tulsa Oklahoma

Exhibition History

• A Foot in Two Worlds, Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (June 18 – August 21, 2015)