Light is made of electromagnetic waves, which don’t need air or any medium to travel.

Lightning, which is hotter than the sun, can spontaneously come to be

all it needs is extreme temperature, strong pressure, and electric fields.

If that’s the case,

how can I use gravity and the extreme mass and energy of my desires to bend light?

Photons strike silver halide crystals

artist and friend Rosy Petri called what I do

“Conjure.”

A black and white portrait of Violet Augustine or Stone Gutierrez with short curly hair, resting her chin on her hand, in front of bookshelves. She has a tattoo of the formula for the light emitted by a photon i.e. photon energy formula.

Concurrent Long-Term Projects

(reverse-chron and in-progress)

2022-Present - Short Film Grant - Rewrite 8 - July 16, 2025

2015-Present - Human Being

1994-Present - Photography

1992-Present - Writing (and Writing)

Selected Exhibitions

2025 - Telephone, Santa Fe, NM

2022 - Then as Now, Woodland Pattern, Milwaukee, WI

2022 - Integral, Green Spaces, Denver, CO

2018 - SOLO It’s Your Face: Masks of Trauma, Sunset Art Studios, Dallas, TX

2018 - Vignette Art Fair, The Women’s Museum, Dallas, TX

2018 - PEELINGS, Sunset Art Studios, Dallas, TX

2018 - HOMEGIRLS, Sour Grapes Studio, Dallas, TX

2018 - Super Women, Deep Vellum Book Store, Dallas, TX

2013 - Making Connections, A Juried Exhibition of Alumni, MIAD, Milwaukee, WI

2013 - El Corazón, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, TX

2012 - Concrete Roses, Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Dallas, TX 

2010 - SOLO Discard, Part Time Gallery, Chicago, IL

2009 - Portfolio Review, Kettle Art Gallery, Dallas, TX 

2009 - Hecho en Dallas, Latino Cultural Center, Dallas, TX

2009 - Movements in Printmaking, Grava Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

2009 - Night Vision: Printing Darkness, Col. Eugene E. Meyers Art Gallery, University of North Dakota, Fargo, ND

2009 - 35th Annual Juried Art Show, UWM Union Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI

Awards & Honors

2022 - Keepers of the Inn Short Film Contest Grant Winner

2022 - The Murray/Reese Family Award, Family Equality, Los Angeles, CA

2021 - Honorable Mention in The Ghost Story’s Supernatural Fiction Contest

2018 - Artist in Residence, Sunset Art Studio, Dallas, TX

2018 - Selected for the Muralism Program, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, TX

2015 - UTD Travel Award to attend the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Minneapolis, MN

2014 - UTD Travel Award to attend the AWP Conference in Seattle, WA

2012 - Featured Artist on Imagen Latina Radio Program 990 AM, Dallas, TX 

2008 - Selected to be artist in residence at The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, OR

2008 - Featured in Women of Milwaukee Hour, Poetry Marathon & Benefit, Woodland Pattern Book Center, Milwaukee, WI

2006 - Featured Poet, Redletter Reading Series, Woodland Pattern Book Center, Milwaukee,WI

2006 - Featured Poet, Educated Leading Lady Association (ELLA), University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

2005 - Poet of the month for Women’s History Month, Lyrical Sanctuary, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Publications

2023 - The Waiting Room, "The Metamorphosis: A Poem in Four Parts," Pico Rivera, CA 

2022 - Commusings,Conversation With the Universe,” Los Angeles, CA

2021 - The Ghost Story, 21st Century Ghost Stories, Vol II,Elegua," (short story) Digital

2011 - The Screamer, FIVE Annual Art Book, “Blood in Blood Out,” (work on paper) Austin, TX

2010 - The Screamer, 4OUR Annual Art Book, “Umbrella,” (work on paper) Austin, TX

2006 - Poetry from Page to Stage, Milwaukee Poets Chapbook, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, WI

Selected Readings

2024 - Emeritus Professors and Selected Alumni, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee, WI

2021 - Elegua, Lit Night, Chocolate Secrets, Dallas, TX

2014 - Café Latino, ALTA (American Literary Translators Association), Milwaukee, WI

2008 - Thresholds, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Student Union, Milwaukee, WI

Selected Presentations

2024 - Gender Expansive Parenting, Family Equality, Zoom Webinar

2022 - The Power of Questions, Guest of Honor at the Family Equality LA Impact Gala, Los Angeles, CA

2015 - The Big Rip, RAW (Research-Art-Writing), University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson,TX

2014 - Bilingual Writing or Self Translation, AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs), Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA 

2014 - The Unreliable Narrator, RAW (Research-Art-Writing) University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX

Selected Community Involvement

2020-2023 - Independent Podcast Creator, Adult Papers, Dallas, TX

2021-2022 - NFT Artist and Host of Basement Studio Film Club, LunarMaria, Remote

2014-2015 - Fiction Editor, Reunion-The Dallas Review at the University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX

2014 - Art Editor, The Boiler-A Journal of New Literature, Dallas, TX

2014 - Volunteer, Dallas Literary One Night Stand, Dallas, TX

2014 - Volunteer, Oak Cliff Film Festival, Dallas, TX

2014 - Donations Coordinator, Better World Book Drive, Sigma Lambda Gamma DFW

2014 - Alumnae Association, Dallas, TX

2010 - Assistant to Director, Icehouse Gallery, Dallas, TX

2010 - Group Facilitator, Latino Cultural Center, Dallas, TX

2010 - Studio Teacher, Oak Cliff Art Crawl, Dallas, TX

2010 - Volunteer, The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX

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