Introducing Madame Artiste

I’ve considered myself a professional painter since 2007—when my work was first juried and exhibited in a gallery setting.

Ironically, painting was never the plan.

My background is in graphic design and art direction. Fine art found me in a way I never could have predicted—through a rare leukemia diagnosis in 2013, after years of unexplained illness.

Leukemia—and the intensity of its treatment—brought my career to a halt. I found myself in a holding pattern. Mentally unraveling. Emotionally unstable. At one point, due to multiple misdiagnoses, I was told I had four years to live.

Painting saved me.

Creating with my hands became therapy for my soul. It gave me somewhere to place the weight of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and medical trauma. In those moments, my mind quieted. Art became my release—my refuge.

I began sharing my work on social media. My earliest supporters were my friends and family, and they remain my foundation to this day. Their encouragement carried me when I couldn’t carry myself.

For years, I’ve dreamed of owning a gallery space in the French Quarter. In 2020, I began building a business plan to make that vision real. Around the same time, I started researching my ancestry.

For most of my life, my maternal history seemed to end in Texas. But census records revealed something deeper—something my mother had always told me, but I had never fully seen documented.

My great-grandparents were listed in U.S. census records, with my great-grandfather’s birthplace traced back to a plantation in Louisiana.

As my mother shared, my great-grandmother—half Mexican and half Portuguese—was disowned for marrying, and having children with, a mulatto man.

That discovery changed everything.

Louisiana was no longer just a place I felt drawn to—it became a place I belonged to. A place rooted in both pain and legacy. A place calling me home.

Life, however, had its own timeline.

My plans were delayed as I stepped into the role of caregiver for my mother during her battle with dementia. At the same time, my own health declined—culminating in liver failure and multiple blood clots in 2023.

Healing has taken years.

Today, I’m proud to say I haven’t been hospitalized in six months. That, for me, is a major milestone.

I am slowly rebuilding.

The hardest part is this: my mind is ready, but my body doesn’t always cooperate. Most days, I am exhausted. I spend more time resting than people might assume from what they see online.

And then there’s the reality of the art market.

The economy has shifted. Online sales have declined. In-person markets are often oversaturated with vendors and under-attended by buyers. I haven’t had a gallery exhibition sale since 2024.

What many don’t see is the cost of participation—application fees, vendor fees, hanging fees, commissions. None of this is free.

With decreasing sales, I’ve had to become more intentional—more strategic—about where I invest my time, energy, and money.

Which led me back to New Orleans.

A city where art lives in the streets. Where artists show up daily. Where visibility is earned through presence, consistency, and dedication.

All that’s required is commitment—and an occupational permit.

I now have both.

And with this expansion comes another facet of who I am:

Madame Artiste.

She is the street artist. The performer. The embodiment of resilience, ancestry, and expression in motion. She exists beyond the canvas—meeting people in real time, in real spaces, in real energy.

This is not a departure from who I’ve been.

It is an evolution of everything I’ve survived.

This is just the beginning.

If my work has ever spoken to you—if it has held you, reflected you, or restored something within you—I invite you to stay connected as this next chapter unfolds.

Join my email list for first access to new collections, original works, and behind-the-scenes moments from New Orleans.

Collectors and collaborators—if you’re interested in acquiring work or partnering on future opportunities, I welcome those conversations.

And if you find yourself in New Orleans this summer, come find me in the streets.

Madame Artiste is here.