Art. Kicks. x Cocktails II
Chicago by Khara Woods, Mixed Media, 2026
Got an invitation from Jamond Bullock of Alivepaint to show a piece or two in Art. Kicks. x Cocktails II at Artifacts Gallery in Whitehaven. The exhibition challenged me to work with the theme of fly kicks, something outside my norm. I made Chicago, a 20 × 28-inch wood assemblage using wood stain, spray paint, electrical tape, and salvaged plywood. You can see the wood’s earlier condition in the photos above.
This piece included a few firsts. I used a router to round the edges, added texture with a Dremel 191 bit, and built my own French cleat. Of course, I installed the cleat backward and returned to the gallery the day before the opening to correct it, with help from fellow artist Eric Echols. A personal win, with one practical lesson learned.
Thank you, Jamond, for sharing your space and giving artists 100 percent of each sale. Thank you to everyone who came out, even though it rained cats and dogs, and to my sister-friend Dina of Soren Studio for joining me. I was glad to hear that several works sold. How awesome! Artifacts Gallery is located at 980 E. Brooks Road in Memphis. The gallery will be open Friday, July 17, from 3 to 8 p.m. for anyone who would like to see the exhibition. Links to everyone’s pages, mentioned in this post, are below.
Jamond Bullock / Alivepaint
Gallery / Artifacts Gallery
Eric Echols / Soulife Photography
Dina / Soren Studio
Low-Pressure Assemblage
Built from scraps, offcuts, fasteners. It all adds up.
This piece started as a brain dump project: a way to use scrap wood, try a few tools, and make something without the pressure of a proposal, deadline, or final outcome. I have been adding offcuts, plywood, thin strips, rounded forms, and small painted fragments as I go, paying attention to how the pieces stack, overlap, and interrupt each other.
Right now, the work is mostly about learning by doing. I have been practicing with a brad nailer and testing different fasteners. I am also thinking about adding veneer and making a French cleat for the back so the piece can hang cleanly on the wall.
It is low-profile and strictly for me, but it still connects to my larger interests in geometry, architecture, material, and how things hold together. That is probably the best part. Making a project without pressure, but not without purpose.
Life's a Beech
I found this log and brought it into the garage as the starting point for a new sculpture experiment. It’s about 8.5 inches in diameter and 26.5 inches tall, with a solid presence that made it feel worth saving. A friend suggested it may be Beech, and the smooth gray bark makes that possible, though I still need to confirm it. Maybe I need to find some leaves and determine the species that way?
I’ve started chipping away at the bark with chisels, slowly revealing the wood underneath. I don’t plan to remove all of it. I like the contrast between the rough outer surface and the exposed wood, especially around the knots.
For now, I’m letting the material guide the piece. I’ll keep testing what to remove, what to leave, and how this found log can become a sculpture.
OK Blog
Notes on art, design, process, and public work.
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