Artist’s Residency in Cluj, Romania

From late August 2025 to end of November 2025, I participated in an artist’s residency in partnership with Atelier Plus, a Cluj-Napoca-based art group in Romania. During those three months I painted, formed meaningful relationships, and taught painting to 24 children in my neighborhood. It is a time in my life I will never forget. My focus was on the mutual influence of the identity of a place and a person’s identity; I believe my body and the places my body occupies are deeply intertwined. Similarly, my shadow lies flat upon the ground, flowing with the bumps and valleys, but provides evidence of a 3-dimensional being standing just above. These works are my attempt to record my physical presence in Cluj, and are a faithful response to the call of the Lord to be and create in Romania.

Oil on canvas, 45 x 55 cm

Here I Am I: Beatific vision

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Here I Am II: Beatific Vision

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Here I Am III: The Staircase

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Here I Am IV: The Column

Here I Am V: the Tunnel

Oil on canvas, 80 x 120 cm

HERE I AM

I chose the title “Here I Am” for my closing exhibition, and for many of these pieces not just because I was in a different place (Romania), but as a reference to the many times God speaks to his people, and their response sounds something like “here I am, Lord.” It may not be as spectacular as the example in Exodus with the burning bush, or any of the other miraculous examples, but it is so worth our time and attention to live in awe and wonder for the little things. I hope to bring the wonder I found in Romania back home, and see things with new eyes. To look up and encounter a burning bush of sorts, a miraculous wonder in the midst of ordinary life, takes sincere intention. Sometimes you even must leave your flock and venture into the cave to hear the voice of God. Though I do not fully know the full purpose of this residency yet, sometimes all God asks of us is, like Moses, Abraham, Jacob, and Isaiah, to say “here I am,” to listen, and to wait.

Night in Baciu 1,
oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm,
Oct 2025 — Night in Baciu 1, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm, Oct 2025

Reflection,
oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm,
Sept 2025 — Reflection, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm, Sept 2025

Night in Baciu 2,
oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm,
Nov 2025 — Night in Baciu 2, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm, Nov 2025

Seeing Spots,
oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm,
Sept 2025 — Seeing Spots, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm, Sept 2025

oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, Sept 2025

I was inspired by Exodus 3:4, which is the moment Moses is in the middle of an ordinary day tending to his father-in-law’s flock of sheep, but is led by curiosity to wander into a cave and comes upon a burning bush. God calls his name, and he responds “Here I am.” I see the moments of beauty I depict as little tiny miracles in our surroundings that shape who we are just like this miracle. I always loved this story, because it was not a public miracle but private, beautiful, and intimate. I understand it partly as a call to hear the voice of God, and to be willing to wander to find and be found by Him. But I also take it as an invitation to be present and available for quiet, private miracles that happen in the day-to-day; you just might hear God speak to you.

Shadow on Concrete Wall

oil on canvas, 45 x 55 cm, Sept 2025

Burning Bush

oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, Nov 2025

SOLD

Superimposition: Concrete Girl’s Love

The Road Well Traveled and Well Forgotten

oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cm, Nov 2025

Prayer for Hope and Unity project

Material
acrylic paint on canvas

Year
November 2025

This project was done in partnership with my students as a big final project. Every single student had a part in creating this painting that I designed (see sketch on the left). During our last workshop together, I handed each of them one square canvas with some lines drawn on it, and some dots of color in the shapes the lines made; essentially, I created a paint by number for them, and they each filled in the shapes in their own styles to make this sort of quilt/puzzle. I designed the image with Cluj and the neighborhood I lived in in Baciu in mind; I wanted it to serve as a prayer for hope, peace, and unity to cover all the communities that the city contains. My goal was to teach the kids that unity is not uniformity and that, even when you don’t know the end goal of what you’re working towards, your unique voice—together with others’—works toward making something beautiful and larger than yourself!