2016 ART & PIE TOUR

At the end of this month, I'm embarking on my Great Southern Road Trip 2016, taking Art & Pie from Florida to North Carolina and points in between.

FIRST STOP: FLORIDA'S FORGOTTEN COAST

I'll be in Port St. Joe, Florida, Memorial Day Weekend to celebrate the release of SAINTS OF OLD FLORIDA, a new book on old Florida to which I contributed the foreword, as well as the painting featured above. Go here for more information and to order a copy of the book, which will be available for purchase on June 11.

I'm also exhibiting a brand new painting series, "Things That Go With Oysters." Join me for a meet-and-greet at Joseph's Cottage in Port St. Joe . I hear tell Schlitz will one of the featured beverages on hand. The paintings will be on view all summer long, so if you're planing a beach vacation on Florida's Forgotten Coast, stop in and say hello to my host and Saints of Old Florida collaborator, Melissa Farrell.

It goes without saying that I intend to head down the road to Apalachicola and Eastpoint to call on my friends whom I last saw almost two years ago when I was in the area working on "The Oysterman" for The Bitter Southerner.

JUNE 5: ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Back in September, I premiered a series of paintings based on the Saltville Community Cookbook. Those paintings are currently on view at Buxton Hall Barbecue in Asheville. I'll be in town on June 5 for a closing reception of sorts > ART & PIE: a workshop collaboration with Tara Jensen of Smoke Signals, plus Ashley Capps and Jessica Rosenkoetter of Buxton Hall. We'll be talking art and baking pies. Go here for more info and to register.

JUNE 7-9: DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA

An old college friend tracked me down recently, thanks to the magic of the interwebs. Twenty-five years ago (ahem) Brian Garner and I were in the printmaking department together at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Today, he's a master printer at Supergraphic, a printmaking studio in Durham. Since I already had North Carolina on my itinerary, Brian and I came up with a plan to collaborate. I'll be in the shop with him for a few days, working on a lithograph that's part of a currently-in-progress but yet-to-be-announced series of paintings. Keep your eye on my Instagram account to get a peek into our process.

JUNE 10: NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Remember those Saltville paintings at Buxton Hall Barbecue that I'll be loading into my car after the Art & Pie workshop? Well, I'm hauling them all the way to Nashville, where they will proudly hang at Biscuit Love for the summer. Owners Karl and Sarah Worley invited me to be Biscuit Love's very first artist in residence. And hey, to all of my SFA friends out there, you can catch a glimpse while you're in town for the Summer Symposium.

Do you know what's between Tennessee and Texas? That's right: Mississippi. So to all of my friends in the Magnolia State, save some tamales for me because I plan to take a slow roll from Oxford to Vicksburg on my way back to Houston.

Follow the ART & PIE TOUR via @artandpie on Twitter and Instagram.

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