My First Solo Gallery Exhibition
2025 was a year of firsts, including my first solo gallery exhibition. I’ve been lucky to share my quilts in a number of shows over the years, but seeing an entire room full of my work was an immensely satisfying and rewarding experience. It was also a little nerve-wracking! The exhibit was titled Full Circle and it was on view at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery in Chattanooga, Tennessee from Sept. 12 through Oct. 17, 2025.
Six of the quilts featured in my solo exhibition at the AVA gallery in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
How I Got the Show
The AVA gallery is local to me, and I’ve been a member of the organization since 2017. Its mission is to strengthen and promote the artistic ecosystem of Chattanooga’s visual artists, and it hosts a variety of events including festivals, critique groups, artist talks, and educational workshops.
AVA’s exhibition calendar features several shows throughout the year, including an annual Juried Member Exhibition. In 2024, my Pink-a-Boo quilt won Best in Show and part of the award was a solo show. I also received the honor of serving as a juror for the 2025 exhibition.
Preparations
About 10 months before my solo show, I met with AVA curator Tim Goldsmith to lay the groundwork for the exhibition. He told me it wasn’t necessary to create an entirely new body of work unless I really wanted to do so. I was happy to hear that advice, it relieved a lot of pressure!
I decided to treat the exhibition as a mid-career retrospective that featured both old and new work never exhibited locally. Tim gave me the gallery floorplan and wall measurements, as well as free reign to decide which quilts would be part of the show. Because we’ve worked together a lot over the years, we built up a level of familiarity and trust that made planning smooth and easy.
The new work I made for the show included a series of 16 mini mounted canvas pieces called Orbital, made with scraps from my award-winning Pink-a-Boo quilt. I used acrylic textile paint to monoprint some of the backgrounds and circles, then layered the pieces on top of one another and machine appliquéd them in place with a blanket stitch. The rings are stuffed with wool, giving them a three-dimensional trapunto effect.
The Orbital series features 16 mini canvases measuring 8×8 inches.
Full Circle on Display
Altogether, there were 16 pieces in the show (including the Orbital polyptych) dating from 2019-2025. The exhibition opened in September alongside a group show featuring three artists: Katie Aronat, Jan Burleson, and Jessica Schulman. The galleries were a riot of color, something the AVA staff said felt like a much-needed counter to the dark and heavy news cycle. I was thrilled to have my parents and Brent at the opening reception, which was well attended. That night, I sold a piece to someone who was visiting from Florida and just happened to walk by the gallery.
Pricing and Sales
I spent a lot of time debating the price of each piece in the show. Prior to this exhibition, I had only sold a couple of small quilts, never a large one. I’d been told by people in the quilt world that my prices were too high, and the lack of sales led me to believe they were right. But AVA’s Education Director Laura Cleary Williams, an artist herself, encouraged me to charge more. I bravely followed her advice and increased my prices.
Much to my surprise, I sold EIGHT pieces altogether! Five of those were Orbital minis, one was my beloved Mulberry Swirl quilt, and the other two were the oldest quilts in the exhibition. Tim later told me that Mulberry Swirl, priced at $3,400, is the most expensive sale in AVA history.
Final Thoughts
A solo gallery show is a major milestone for every artist. Having mine at a gallery I know and love, supported by a thoughtful and caring staff, made it extra sweet. AVA’s small-but-mighty team has enthusiastically cheered my work for many years now, and I wouldn’t be the artist I am today without their support.
Plus, since the gallery is so close to home, it meant I had lots of opportunities to tour the show with friends and family. Many thanks to everyone who came to see it!
Here is the exhibition statement, as well as a video walkthrough of the gallery.
This collection of work is a visual representation of my journey as an artist and quilter. I see it as a mid-career retrospective, an opportunity to observe themes that only become apparent with time and reflection.
I started quilting in 2014. Working with cloth unlocked a confidence and an enthusiasm that was never present when I dabbled in other mediums like painting and photography. Suddenly, I felt capable of breathing life into the ideas that floated around the edges of my consciousness.
Many of my early quilts were made improvisationally using techniques I cobbled together from free online tutorials and blog posts. Over time, my technical prowess grew and my workflow became more planned and precise. But one thing remained constant: my love of circular compositions. Circles represent balance and harmony, movement and flow. Swooping curves create a shape that is elementary, but its construction with fabric can be quite challenging. That interplay of complexity and simplicity excites me, so I return to circles again and again.
A guild mate once observed that, “Cotton was alive, it has personality and an opinion.” Each of the quilts in this exhibition gave me something I needed at the time I made it—a learning opportunity, a place to exert control amidst chaos, a refuge. I’m grateful for the ongoing conversations I have with the cloth and for the connections I’ve formed through this body of work.
Take a walk through the AVA gallery to see my solo exhibition.
