Channeling Experiences

The Goldmark Cultural Center’s Norman Brown Gallery is pleased to pleased to present Channeling Experiences, a joint exhibition featuring the work of painters Jill Brown and Michal Romero.

The exhibition is on display in the Norman Brown Gallery at 14001 Goldmark Dr from 9/30 to 11/1, with a closing reception on Friday, 11/1, from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. Jill and Michal will be present at the closing reception to respond to questions and comments about their artwork, and this will be the best time to meet the artists.

About the Exhibition

Jill Brown and Michal Romero (2023-2024 Goldmark resident artists) will be exhibiting their recent works for the first time together in 12 years. Brown works primarily in oil on canvas and utilizes various tools to scrape imagery into her surfaces. Romero also works mainly in oil on canvas but also uses mixed media on paper. Brown’s work is highly abstracted and nonobjective while Romero’s dances back and forth between representational and abstraction. Both of the women’s works, however, depict an ongoing dialogue of their search for meaning and making sense of their lives through gesture, color, imagery, and structure. Though each painter has her own aesthetic, their works collectively transform their thoughts into vibrant experiences for the viewer.

Brown and Romero became close friends while attending UT Tyler in the late aughts / early teens. Romero (neé Durham) was working on her MFA while Jill was completing her BFA in the small-but-growing art program. Since then, both women have kept in touch over the years while creating work and sharing stories. In early 2022, they started planning a two-person show together. Brown had just returned to the US after spending 6 years overseas. Romero had gotten married, left the teaching profession after 7 years, and had moved to Fort Worth to focus on her art full-time.

Channeling Experiences shows their visual conversations and brings the viewer into the stories the women shared with each other of life, aging, vulnerability, humor, love and loss. Their creations have brought them even closer together as they have shared and continue to share evolving outlooks. Inevitably, it reveals how necessary friendship is in order to live a richer, fuller life.

About the Artists

Jill Brown, born in Dallas in 1985, has recently returned to her hometown after six vibrant years in Australia. Since childhood, her passion for drawing blossomed into a love for painting during her college years. Jill’s work creates a striking dialogue between artist and viewer through her bold use of color, dynamic marks, and compelling compositions. Her pieces invite a deeper look, revealing a meticulous and enigmatic side beneath the surface.

Jill earned her BFA from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2010 and now focuses on her art while teaching in Forney, TX.

Michal Durham Romero was born in 1983 in east Texas and has been drawing since the age of 4. Romero creates abstract landscapes and settings based on notions of spirituality and nostalgia. Her creative approach derives from how she perceives her surroundings and how certain objects or images stay with her over time.

She received her BA at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007 and her MFA from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2012. Michal won the "Visual Communications Through Art" Award from the Visual Art Alliance Houston, the December "Artist of the Month" award from Downtown Tyler Arts Coalition, has work in UT Tyler's permanent collection.

A firm believer in the importance of fine arts in everyday life, Romero has spent 7+ years educating others at the college and secondary levels about art processes, art in-context, and fostering individual creativity. Romero lives and works in Ossining, NY.