Opening Reception — WORTH: Excavated

Cheryl Russell opens her new solo show, WORTH: Excavated, at Silver Street Studios on Friday, October 9. The reception runs from 6 PM to 8 PM in the West Gallery, with Russell giving a talk at 6:30 PM. Live music will be provided by Alan 'Dogman' Miller of The Hightailers.

Russell is a Houston-based contemporary abstract expressionist who paints full-time from her studio at Silver Street Studios in Sawyer Yards. She earned her BFA summa cum laude from Texas State University, and her work is held in private collections internationally. WORTH: Excavated is her most ambitious body of work yet—large-scale acrylic paintings that are bold in color and grand in scale. She describes the show as being rooted in the excavation that runs through every painting she makes: the roles we outgrow, the stories we inherited, and the truth we stop hiding from.

That idea of excavation is also how she works. Russell came to painting through photography, sculpture, printmaking, collage, drawing, and years as a web and graphic designer. Her process is more like digging than building: she lays down marks, buries them, scrapes them back, and keeps going until something underneath reveals itself. The paintings are heavily layered and carry hidden imagery—bones, stars, silhouettes, and constellations tucked into night skies that you only find by standing close.

The reception is free and takes place in the West Gallery at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Houston, TX 77007, inside Sawyer Yards—enter through Door 4. It runs from 6 PM to 8 PM, with the artist talk at 6:30 PM and live music from Alan 'Dogman' Miller of The Hightailers.