Bolide de Veritate: 011 (2013) 8in circumferenceEngraved & Carved and Wood with Oil paint These pieces are based on meteorites and comets. Using material that can be shaped to reference a different material. In creasing this series, the most recent works are carved into slants making multiple layers with the intention of causing the viewer to shift physically. Consider which perspective the prefer. The engraved lines reference navigation and cyphered language. Influenced by African wood pattern making I experienced in Kenya and game pieces. Each piece was carved out of a tree during my residencies at Woodstock Byrdcliff and Ox-Bow. The act of going into a forest among rock and trees influences the aesthetics of each piece.

Macrocosmic Test 00001 (2013) 10in x 3in x 10in Wood & Oil Paint These pieces are based on meteorites and comets. Using material that can be shaped to reference a different material.In creasing this series, the most recent works are carved into slants making multiple layers with the intention of causing the viewer to shift physically. Consider which perspective the prefer. The engraved lines reference navigation and cyphered language. Influenced by African wood pattern making I experienced in Kenya and game pieces. Each piece was carved out of a tree during my residencies at Woodstock Byrdcliff and Ox-Bow. The act of going into a forest among rock and trees influences the aesthetics of each piece.

Macrocosmic Tests (2013) Various between 4in and 9in circumference Engraved & Carved and Wood with Oil Paint These pieces are based on meteorites and comets. Using material that can be shaped to reference a different material. These wooden pieces are part of one installation where small wooden objects were places in a dark wooden room building a context between object, viewer, space, and light.

Key Asque Enter Face (Texter's La Bor Tory installation) (2013) 4ft x 4ft x 5ftEngraved Wood, Computer, Photo Enlargers, Metal, Gold Paint This is the center piece for the "Texter's La Bor Tory" installation of the "Coming Through the Gap in the Mountain on an Elephant" exhibition. I created pieces based upon the idea of time shifted technology used as alternative tools of inquisition. This computer station all for audience interaction and performative use and misuse. Although part come from photography enlargers as a reference to "magic and technology", it also contains an engraved wood carving of pathways as a table referencing the other works.

Optimus PrimAtive Prologue - performance installation (2012) Found objects, board games, & historical notes This is the space of an exhibition performance after its conclusion. Visitors were given an imaginative outline for my character being a time traveler who need there assistance reassembling reality. The goal was to get the community to think and communicate outside of rules and expectations. Each visitor was asked to find questions in a game and then find answers in other non-related games and place them on a wall or in the room so that others could consider the relationship and help form a new collectively accepted reality of history, the present, and possible future.

for Navigating Infinity (Full Installation) (2011) Wood Carving and Wooden Handmade Writing Stands As part of the Communagraph 3rdWard community mapping project at Project Row Houses I created an installation within one room with 4 other artists also creating installations with the same space. My piece was an artist’s representation of a community meeting "Elders Circle," where I interviewed and wrote poems representing specific people. The sculpture on the wall represents the way people sit in a circle and walk within the circle to dialogue. The three stands are for people to write narratives to add the piece. When the poems are performed the piece comes off the wall and is laid on the floor with chair surrounding suggesting circular community "interdependence." My goal was to make are work that also influence human function and interaction. A web artwork related to the piece was also built but will not be made public until late February.

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C.V.

Education2003 BFA, University of Houston, Houston, TX 1997 High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, TX

Residencies and Workshops2014 - Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA 2013 - Goldsmiths University Literary Workshop, London, England - Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI - Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY - Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL 2012 - Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME 2011 - Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL 2008 - Diverse Works, Creative Capital Professional Development Workshop, Houston, TX

Awards2014 - VCCA Residency, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation Fellowship 2013 - Ox-Bow Residency, Joan Mitchell Foundation Scholarship - City of Houston, Houston Arts Alliance Established Artist Grant, Houston, TX 2008 - City of Houston, Houston Arts Alliance Emerging Artist Grant, Houston, TX 2005 - Poetry Slam International (Houston Area), Poetry Grand Slam Champion, Houston, TX Amnesty International (Houston), Poetry Slam Champion, Houston,TX

Solo Exhibitions2012 - Prequel: Invisible Studio, Skowhegan School of Painting (exhibition space), Skowhegan, ME 2009 - Re:Vision Pro:Cess, Prairie View University Gallery, curated by Lauren Kelly, Prairie View, TX - Beats, Rhymes & Mike, Houston, TX 2003 - Introducing, BH Gallery, Houston, TX

Selected Group Exhibitions 2013 - Coming Through the Gap of the Mountain on an Elephant, curated by Robert Pruitt, University Museum at Texas Southern University, Houston, TX 2011 - C.A.C. Space, Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Houston, TX - Inside Out, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Fl - Communograph Project curated by Ashley Hunt, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX - What’s The New News, curated by Nathaniel Donnett, Various Locations, Houston, TX 2010 - DARe to go FURther, Lawndale Arts Center, Houston, TX - Art Of , MOCAH Gallery, Houston, TX - Las Comadres, Talento Bilingue de Houston and Discovery Green Park, Houston, TX 2009 - Amnesia Project Platform 7: Probe, curated by Simon Njami, Nairobi Arts Trust(CCAEA) and GoDown Arts Center, Nairobi, Kenya - Awakenings Movement Exhibit, Paa Ya Paa Arts Centre, Nairobi, Kenya - Art Crawl, Elder Street Artists Lofts, Houston, TX 2008 - Houston Collects, curated Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX - A Time For Change, curated by Catherine D. Anspon, Debroah Colton Gallery, Houston, TX - Art-Official Intelligence, curated by Jason Woods, The Museum of Texas Southern University, Houston, TX - Havin' Their Say, curated by Vicki Meek, South Dallas Cultural Arts Center, Dallas, TX 2007 - Light, M Squared Gallery, Houston, TX - Songai Independent Black Film Festival, University of Houston, Houston, TX - Audio Visual Swap (AVSwap), Angelika Film Center and River Oaks Theatre, Houston,TX - MFAH Five-A 11th Annual Citywide African American Art Exhibition, G Gallery Houston, Houston, TX 2006 - Brandywine Workshop Exhibition, curated by Eugene Foney, Philadelphia, PA - Private Stash, curated by Eugen Foney, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX 2003 - Layered Evidence, curated by Caroline Goeser, Susana Monteverde, and Sara Wilson Mckay, Lawndale Arts Center, Houston, TX 2002 - The Mentor, Houston Community College, Houston, TX - Emergence, FotoFest at the University of Houston, Houston, TX - Midtown Visions, Art Square Studios, Houston, TX

Selected Performances: Visual, Poetry, Dance, or Multi Disciplinary2013 - “Coming Through the Fear of Impossibility on a Myth” by Abijan Johnson and Michael K. Taylor, University Museum at Texas Southern University, Houston, TX - Three “Unititled” by Victoria Marks, Michael K. Taylor, and Hannah Beth, Inside Out, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Fl 2011 - “Life Archived Through Art” by Michael K. Taylor, Communograph Project and Project Houston, TX - “Dixie Fwy” by Michael K. taylor, Inside Out, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Fl - “Texts for Nothing” by Harold Mendez, Future Plan and Program curated by Steffani Jemison, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX - “Silent” by Michael K. Taylor, Museum as Hub: Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet curated by Jamal Cyrus and Steffani Jemison, New Museum, New York, NY

Curatorial Projects2013 - Museum of Fine Arts Houston 17th Annual Citywide Exhibition, Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX 2012 - Surrounded by Giants: The Photography of Jason Woods, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, TX Museum of Fine Arts Houston: 16th Annual Citywide Exhibition, Various Locations, Houston, TX 2011 - Obitas, Community Artists’ Collective in Collaboration with Talento Bilingue de Houston, Houston, TX 2010 - Offline: International Film & Video, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, TX Eco-logic: Environmental Art, Co-Curator Divya Murthy, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, TX 2008 - Love Movement: Visual Art and Performance Exhibition, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, TX - Of Women, Co-Curator Sarah Trotty, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, TX 2007 - Future Present Series Vol 2, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, TX 2006 - Future Present Series Vol 1, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, TX

Curatorial/Artist Lectures (non exhibition)2010 - TEDx NASA, NASA Houston (Technology, Entertainment, Design), Houston, TX - Artist SPEAKeasy, FreshArts/Spacetaker, Houston, TX 2009 - American Artist Talk, GoDown Arts Center, Nairobi, Kenya 2008 - State of the Black Arts, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX

Bibliography2013 - Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle, Artists Journey Forward at TSU Exhibit 2011 - Dr. Charles H. Rowell, Callaloo Volume 34:1, artwork and interview 2008 - John Hope Franklin and Alvia J. Wardlaw, Collecting African American Art, artwork 2007 - MFAH(5a) Citywide Exhibition Catalog Cover