The college final that ended art before it began—until it came back to remind everyone that quitting isn’t permanent.Painted in 1997 as a college final inspired by Picasso’s Wartime Tomatoes, this piece was made during one of the hardest chapters of my life—five months after placing my baby for adoption. I was young, hurting, and just trying to make something that meant something.
When I turned it in, the instructor didn’t just criticize the work; she told me I’d never make it as an artist and should pick another career. So I did. I stopped painting. For years.
But this painting survived. It’s a little warped, cheap craft paint still clinging to poster board—but it outlived her opinion. And maybe that’s the best revenge: it exists. And now it hangs in a gallery she’ll never get to curate.
Forgotten Art Class
Sometimes failure just needs a few decades to age into proof.