Statement
Blessed, I’ve led dual careers as a visual artist and as a Registered Nurse. I constantly
faced the unexpected: whether in my studio sanctuary, during an artist in residence
abroad, where Art was my language; or as a nurse working the ER on a crazed evening,
on the edge of my seat in the helicopter or on a global medical mission. It is who I am, I
embrace it and it fuels the content in my “ART” practice. My experienced “humanity” I
admit is unique. As Nurses and as Artists, we are problem solvers, as I was reminded
by an artist friend whose father I cared for as a nurse. I deal with my shadowed histories
as an Amerikan Pinay, my personal journeys, my concerns with issues involving aging,
racial and gender inequities that persist, and is our present politic made worse. My
content beckons me to find truth not hate. Formally, I don’t feel limited, it is not unusual
to create a series of intimate works on paper to large-scale installations, designed to
guide my viewers intrigue and to find beauty in its construct.
Bio
Terry Acebo-Davis is a Visual Artist, Curator, Lecturer and is now retired from her day job as a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Department. While working as an RN, Terry continued to draw and make art and eventually earned her MFA in visual art while working the night shift in the ICU back in the 90’s. It was also at this time that Terry was introduced to the Asian American Women’s Artist Association. She was one of the early members and the first Amerikan Pinay recognized in the group. Driving to AWAA meetings from the South Bay with Flo Wong to Oakland’s Chinatown was an adventure and a thrill to share stories with other women Artists of Asian extraction. In 1998, Terry had the opportunity to Co-edit and write the early grants with fellow Artist Dawn Nakanishi for AAWAA’s first catalog “Of Our Own Voice”. Since then Terry has curated shows with Asian American women themes and exhibited her own Art regionally, nationally and internationally, including the Philippines. She was awarded a Phelan Award-Fellowship at Kala in Printmaking, a Silicon Valley Artist Laureate with Print and Painting Residences in the United States, and at the Frans Masereel Center in Belgium. She belonged to the original Pilipino collective “Diwa Arts” receiving SF Arts Commission Grants amongst others for performance and exhibition projects
