David Connolly

Artist Statement
Artmaking for me is a compulsion. I use paper, wood, graphite, charcoal, ink, paint, or whatever is available, discarded materials of various kinds. My art practice involves reflections
upon my own environment, its history, beliefs in conflict, and beauty. Much of the work is about power, duality, misreading, misunderstanding, and unrequited love. I think that, without always being aware, I am more or less a dragnet catching laments and responses to commonly shared traumas and wonders.

Bio
David Connolly is a Houston native turned Dallasite, a working visual artist and a TU graduate returned home. David has maintained an art practice for well over twenty years, exhibiting primarily in the Dallas area, and modestly collected by private collectors, featured by a few museums and institutions. Over the years, David has worked with visual art galleries in the Dallas area, but has largely operated independently of gallery representation. The enterprise of artmaking and the critically important content in his work are possible through the diverse relationships David has been able to cultivate over the years. David works for 9b, a benefit corporation serving the Tulsa community through the power of data, a symphony of

relationships for David, fueling his art practice.

As a member of 9b, David works as its Director of Art & Design, artist in residence, and founder of its community-supported art service called ArtCo Tulsa, connecting local business communities with locally grown, contemporary art and artists of the now. David learned years ago that art can be for anyone, and has been on a mission to make that a reality. His work is at times intentional to bring people together in conversation about things that matter. The

show, Spirit Birds (bearing the same name as the featured piece), hosted by Vicki Meek and the South Dallas Cultural Center at the Arthello Beck Gallery in 2013 was, among other things, a conversation about the wrongfully accused, justice, and healing. The event
featured an artist talk and a panel discussion between exonerated individuals and Dallas constituents. Prior to joining the 9b team, David was a Humanities and English teacher at Crossover Preparatory School located in north Tulsa. While a member of Crossover Prep as a teacher, David hosted an art club that turned into a weekly gathering place for his young students, colleagues and visiting adults brought together by the large scale drawing produced collaboratively with the students.

Before he and his family returned to Tulsa in the summer of 2017, David lived and worked in the Dallas area as an artist and educator since 2001. His work continues to be inspired by life stories of the people in his community and beyond, and many of the events that have shaped our world over the last several years.