Crossover, the June show in our main gallery, features core artist Mia Cross and invited artist Doug Cross, who also happens to be Mia's father. There will be an opening reception on Friday, June 1st from 6-8pm, and a closing reception on Saturday, June 23rd from 6-8pm. Below the artists answer some questions about the theme of their exhibition.

How did you come up with the theme of your show?

MIA - Right away I knew that I wanted to have my dad as my fellow artist for my quickly approaching show. I come from a family of creatives and my dad is one of them. I have seen him build, paint, and make throughout my life and he has always been one of my favorite artists. I was thinking about our name Cross and the show title came to me fairly quickly... Crossover! Our work is already linked (me being his daughter and such) but we wanted a way to directly link our new work for the show. That is where the word prompts came in that spurred the creation of most of the new art.

One weekend while we were away with family, we all sat down and each wrote three words down as potential prompts. Some of those words are anxiety, home, painted, moon, trust, and big/small. We are examined our older work and picked new words that linked those pieces.

DOUG - It all started when Mia surprised me one day by asking if I wanted to be a part of her Fountain Street show. Needless to say I was honored, humbled and touched to have the opportunity to show my work alongside hers.

Always being unconsciously aware of how our work differed in some ways but seemed similar in others, we thought: “wouldn’t it be cool if we could somehow represent these differences and similarities through this joint show!”

We then put our heads together... Mia immediately came up with the title “Crossover.” Knowing that we both wanted to show multiple pieces, we then decided we needed a set of key words to serve as common starting points or inspirations for each.

To further honor the importance of randomness in the creative process, we asked each of our extended family members to write down several words of their choice on slips of paper. We then picked five out of a hat and “Crossover” was born!

Can you talk about what the theme means for you?

MIA - The theme of the show is essentially based on linking the work of a father and daughter artist. Having a show with my dad is so special to me. The common prompt words between artists is unique and special, but it is even more meaningful because we are related. It is fun to see where our minds venture with each piece. It reveals how we each use our art to process different experiences or process emotions.

DOUG - Coming from a family of inventors and creators, I’ve long been intrigued by how this genetic prewiring versus my life experiences influences my creativity and my art. This theme allows me to look back in the past by looking forward into the future.

How does the work explore the theme?

MIA - The theme is all wrapped in how our work intersects, but it is open enough that we can explore our own avenues. I think there are a lot of similarities between our work that may not be so obvious at a quick glance. I think our work shares a quirkiness, an attention to detail, and sometimes humor. The prompts inexplicably link our work together.

DOUG - The answers to these “why I do what I do” questions are certainly not black and white. Perhaps they are best defined through the eyes of others. Hence, I look forward to sharing our work and to learn about us through how others see us.

Crossover: June in the gallery with Mia and Doug Cross