Art of Caring 2026

A few photos from last night’s Art of Caring fundraiser at the FedEx Event Center at Shelby Farms. Hosted by Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation, the event benefits the Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief and brings together local and regional artists in support of free grief counseling services for families and children across the Mid-South. I was honored to have my piece, Kepler’s Supernova, included in the auction, and I’m especially glad it sold in support of such a meaningful cause.

Sealing the Edge

Here’s a new painting in progress, Aixs X: 18 × 24 inches, spray paint on canvas. Right now, it’s somewhere between an underpainting and a blueprint.

Lately I’ve been committing to a taping method I’ve known about for years, but never fully adopted. The idea is simple: seal the tape edge first, then paint the new color. It cuts down on bleed and makes it easier to get the lines clean, sharp, and precise. Very obvious. Very useful. Occasionally, I need years to accept a good idea.

It’s worked for me before, and I think it’s going to help with where I want these paintings to go. More control. Better edges. Less fixing later. Which is ideal, because I would prefer to spend my time making the painting, not cleaning up after it.

We’ll see if the finished version gets as crisp as the sketch. That’s the goal anyway!

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Ok Icon, Number Three

Another “K” for the possible monogram pile. This one is without the “O” and feels a little sharper and more structural than the last two. Part sail, part wedge, part cropped architectural detail.

Painting Between Places

Corridor is a 20 × 20 inch work in progress, spray paint and acrylic on a gallery-wrapped canvas. It’s built from taped bands, shifted angles, and a centered passage that keeps changing as the colors settle into place. I’m still cleaning up a few edges, while starting a second piece alongside it (18 × 24 inches). Right now, I’m painting wherever I can. Inside the house. Outside the house. Around the house. Not over the house. Not yet. Until I land in another studio. This has me thinking a lot about thresholds: moving through spaces, making do, and staying committed to the work even when the setting is temporary.

OK Icon, Another One

I’ve been playing with another “K” for my ongoing little monogram series. This version is… arrow-ish. Not a sleek, I-belong-on-a-freeway-sign, arrow. It’s a bit awkward looking, but it’s an arrow. I like that it feels directional.

“Forward” arrow sculpture built during my 2021 fellowship with UrbanArt Commission and the University of Memphis.

OK Icon

Finally working on a new icon for my ‘brand.’ I’m liking the simplicity so far, even though it still needs some refining. Maybe I’ll soften the corners. Maybe I’ll take it in a completely different direction. Either way, this idea deserves an iteration or two… or three… or fifty.

Playlist

Soundtrack to my latest exhibition.
Moody jazz, deep funk, poetic soul.

Listen Here

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1. "Night Lights" Gerry Mulligan Sextet

2. "Memory of Our Love" Donny Hathaway

3. "Nature Boy" John Coltrane

4. "Thembi" Pharoah Sanders

5. "Movement 1" Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra

6. "Woodward Avenue" Yusef Lateef

7. "Ene Alantchie Alnorem" Mulatu Astatke

8. "Black Narcissus" Flora Purim

9. "Trouble" Amel Larrieux

10. "Manteca" Quincy Jones

11. "Night Moods" Chaka Khan

12. "Seven Minutes Of Funk" The Whole Darn Family

13. "Too High" Stevie Wonder

14. "A Min We Vo Nou We" Les Sympathics de Porto Novo

15. "If You Want Me, Say It" Love Unlimited

16. "Bump Lam Plearn" The Petch Phin Thong Band

17. "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" Quincy Jones

18. "Mercy" Lakecia Benjamin, Dianne Reeves

19. "I Really Don't Care" Bilal

20. "Coney Island Baby" Lou Reed

21. "Pieces of a Man" Gil Scott-Heron

22. "Kingston" Faye Webster

23. "Sack Full of Dreams (Live)" Donny Hathaway
    

A Friday in Augusta

This past Friday I gave an artist talk at Westobou Gallery in Augusta, GA, and honestly—it was a great time. The space is gorgeous (hello, tin ceiling and dreamy lighting), and I got to chat about my work, which is always slightly nerve-wracking but ultimately rewarding. I shared a bit about my current project for the Brooks Museum and how cast acrylic has been a beautiful but bossy new material in my practice. There was beer from Savannah River Brewery (shoutout to their IPA for calming my nerves), DJs spinning disco from Eccentric Disco (unexpected and so good), and some really thoughtful questions from folks in the crowd.

It rained on my drive back to Atlanta, with lightning slicing across the sky, but my favorite podcast kept me company. Now I’m back in Memphis, caffeinated and back to work—specifically: fixing those stubborn acrylic toppers. Onward!

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Brooks Summer Art Garden: A Flash of Sun

Here’s a snapshot of how the plaza at the Brooks Museum is looking now that my installation, A Flash of Sun, is nearly complete. I’ll be sharing more photos soon, including behind-the-scenes moments from preparing the vinyl mural graphics and building the two sculptures now standing where Wheeler Williams’ Spring and Summer marble statues once stood.

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Nashville Scene Write-Up

“Crawl Space: Playful Displays Top Fall’s First First Saturday: A multimedia exhibition at Tinney and a movie-themed”

By: Joe Nolan

Khara Woods’ painting “Champagne Supernova” is perfectly titled for this pop-culture moment, when all things vintage Oasis have been made new again with the announcement of the band’s reunion tour. The work is hanging at Red 225 in The Packing Plant through November. It’s part of Woods’ exhibition of geometric abstract paintings Square Biz, which finds the Memphis-based artist offering multiple interpretations and numerous iterations of squares, triangles and rectangles to create a surprisingly varied selection of multimedia works. She produces op-art effects, restrained palettes and clean, hard-edged surfaces that speak to graphic design aesthetics. Woods is a professional graphic designer, but these works are admirably painterly due to her embracing of street-art materials like wood and spray paint. In another life, Woods’ work might have looked like the kind of hip-hop- and graffiti-inspired paintings we see from a generation of emerging artists who discovered Jean-Michel Basquiat and never looked back. Refreshingly, she goes in a completely different direction, creating formalist abstracts elevated by modernist constraint. Woods paints on wooden panels, and the whole display feels a little bit like a set of children’s wooden play blocks, brightly painted in contrasting colors and repetitive patterns. The work conveys a sense of serious fun — contemporary nonrepresentational painting, but unpretentious and accessible. Some of Woods’ most striking pieces — like “Champagne Supernova” — are painted on panels cut into shapes. It’s a natural choice to make in a show about shapes, and it brings a lot of variety to a display that might have otherwise looked too … square. Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Saturday at Red 225, 507 Hagan St. 

“Champagne Supernova” featured above.

New Work - Vasarely Inspired

Untitled

36x36 inches

Spray paint on Canvas

Khara Woods needs a bigger studio, but stays for the window

“We found Khara’s work through her recent show at Crosstown Arts this past Spring, and were delighted to meet up at a local coffee shop and learn more. As a working graphic designer, her eye for design infiltrates all aspects of her work across mediums, as well as the physical space she inhabits. Her attention to detail shines, from the way she writes down snippets of conversation that stay with her, to the way she collects artifacts of design to fill her space with inspiration. Her sensibility is observant and joyful, and shows the same mindfulness that drew us to her work the minute we saw it.” —KRYSTIANA KOSOBUCKI-HOWELL

Interview with Red 225

Kathleen, owner of Red 225, a non-profit gallery in Nashville, TN, asked me 20 questions and I answered them all. Check it out!

Studio Pictures

Set from week of July 24th.

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