Statement
I’ve been blessed to lead two careers as an Artist and as an Emergency Room Nurse. In both vocations I learned to face the unexpected and embrace all challenges as a learning experience in “humanity”. I also realized, that I was was adept in problem solving. My art content is driven by my travels and my concerns with racial and gender inequities, the significance of history and aging. All these themes are reflected in my work. As a mixed race woman, my imagery is meant to provoke. Formally, it is not unusual to create a series of work ranging in size from intimate works on paper to installations, with scale designed to impress.
Bio
Terry Acebo-Davis is a Visual Artist, Curator and Lecturer. While working as an RN, Terry continued to draw and paint and eventually earned an MFA in fine art while simultaneously working the night shift as an RN in the ICU. 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 Pilipina American recognized in the group. In the early years driving to AWAA meetings from the South Bay with friend Flo Wong to Oakland’s Chinatown was an adventure and a thrill to share stories with Chinese and Japanese American women colleagues.
In 1998, Terry with fellow Artist Dawn Nakanishi shared writing the early grants and co-edited AAWAA’s first catalog “Of Our Own Voice”. Since then Terry was invited to exhibit and curate shows with Asian American themes. She has shown her own Art regionally, nationally and internationally. Her awards include a Phelan Fellowship in Printmaking at Kala, a Silicon Valley Artist Laureate and Print and Painting Residences in the United States, and at the Frans Masereel Center in Belgium. Terry also belonged to the original Pilipino collective “Diwa Arts” receiving SF Arts Commission Grants for performance and exhibition projects highlighting Pilipino Identity. Administratively, Terry served as Chair of the Palo Alto Public Art Commission and served Non-Profits Arts Organizations as Board Member and Director of WORKS San Jose and Trustee for Arts Council Silicon Valley.
