To end the year 2023, I was honored to exhibit my Plant Life series, “the SECRET LIFE of PLANTS”, at Chicago Art Department in the East Gallery for the month of December. My Co-curators Alexy Irving and Dorian Sylvain did an excellent job of bringing my creative vision to life. In fact, the week of the install, I became ill with covid and it forced me to take a back seat to their curatorial expertise. One thing I learned from this experience was, if you ask for help, allow people to help, and get out of their way. Despite feeling horribly sick and weak, I was initially tempted to do all the work myself since I had been planning this exhibit for over a year and I had an idea in my mind about how I wanted people to experience the work I created for the show. But if it wasn’t for me being forced to stay home sick, I would have failed to benefit from the professionalism of these two brilliant art visionaries. It was so much of a surprise to see so many of my friends and family in attendance. The opening night was fabulous. I prepared a playlist inspired by plants and we also enjoyed entertainment from Rodney Gipson, musician extraordinaire. In addition, I was able to host workshops with experts in the field, Pancho McFarland, PhD, who graciously facilitated a permaculture workshop, and Alexy Irving, not only a curator, but a garden educator, who also hosted a propagation workshop. I held my own collage workshop where we created vision boards as well. Overall, it was a beautiful experience to wrap up the year and I look forward to 2024. It’s already shaping up to be pretty busy and full of activity. Thanks again for continuing the journey! Peace, protection, prosperity and productivity.