On My Mind: blog posts
Where to See My Art in 2025
SYNC Gallery, 931 Santa Fe Dr., Denver, CO 80204
Falcon Gallery at 32nd Ave Books, Toys, and Gifts, 3633 W. 32nd Ave, Denver, CO 80211
Feeling Like a Ray of Sunshine, 10”x10” oil on canvas
I can’t wait for this self-portrait exhibition by Colorado women artists. I find self-portraits to be extra difficult to paint, and I feel extremely grateful that my piece was accepted into She Makes an Impression: Colorado Women Take a Look at Themselves, a Colorado Women’s Art Museum exhibit. I look forward to seeing what the other artists created for this deeply personal exhibit. Check it out at D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Dr, Denver, CO 80204; exhibit runs Dec 18, 2025 - Jan 11, 2026; opening reception on Dec 18, 6-8pm.
Artist Statement: This is Patience and Optimism weighed down by the events happening in our country. The limited palette (white, black, and 2 yellows), chosen for what is normally associated with happiness, is in contrast with the weight of challenges our country is currently facing. I am optimistic that this is just a "season," but some days the face of optimism feels difficult to hold up.
I am excited to be a part of the Member’s Show this winter at SYNC Gallery in Denver’s Santa Fe Arts District where all 20 members will have their art on display from Dec 18, 2025 - Jan 10, 2026 - it will be a beautiful and interesting show! The opening reception on Friday, December 19 from 5-9pm will have refreshments and artists in attendance. And the First Friday art walk on Jan 2nd will be a fun way to start the new year.
That Which Outweighs the Alternative, 30”x24” oil on canvas
This painting, with a message of hope to keep our heads out of the sand and optimistically work toward a better future, was juried into the Lone Tree Art Expo this year (juror Bobbi Walker). The exhibit, which runs Oct 29, 2025 to Jan 4, 2026 and with an opening reception from 6pm-8pm on October 30, is at the Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St, Lone Tree, CO 80124.
Artist Statement: The title of this painting, That Which Outweighs the Alternative, has two meanings. First, it is a literal reimaging of the canvas, which started out as a painting of a lion that never quite looked right. So I turned it upside down, painted the silhouette of the bird, and then added just enough detail to make it recognizable as an ostrich. I am so glad that I took the risk of painting over what was there before - a validation that sometimes the path we start on can be improved by changing where we are headed because all that we have walked before still shows through in what we do today. Second, the title refers to my belief that the beauty and hope in this world outweighs the despair and hate, and that we should be optimistic as we look beyond the horizon of today. I will always choose hope over despair.
I am excited to announce that three of my Ravens on Mars paintings have been juried into the Spirit Animal Totems: Our Kindred Fauna exhibit at Valkarie Gallery from October 9 - November 2, 2025. The gallery, located at 445 S. Saulsbury St., Lakewood, CO 80226, is open Thursdays 4 - 9:30 pm, Fridays 4 - 8:30 pm, Saturdays 12 - 6 pm, and Sundays 12 - 5 pm.
Beyond the Horizon, which ran January 16 - February 16, was my first semi-solo exhibit at SYNC Gallery, 931 Santa Fe Dr., Denver, CO 80204. Regular gallery hours are Thurs 1-4pm, Fri 1-4pm, Sat 12-5pm, and Sun 1-4pm.
Artist Statement: Through my oil on canvas paintings of wildlife, I seek to reflect a broader scope of life on Earth beyond the well-worn paths of our daily routines that keep us focused on our small part of this planet. I often paint over previous paintings and sketches, allowing parts of the underlying scenes to show through, like creating windows into the past. Our stories are always changing, building, overlapping; our paths all lead us to this moment where we stand on the precipice between what was and what will be. The choices we make have global and multi-generational impacts, which is both a weight and an opportunity. My art is a reminder that the beauty and hope in this world outweighs the despair and hate, and we should be optimistic as we look beyond the horizon of today.
Featured image: Taking the Long View, a 24”x30” oil on canvas painting by Monica Hokeilen
A variety of my smaller paintings will continue to be on display (and for sale) in the Falcon Gallery at 32nd Ave Books, Toys, and Gifts store in Denver, Colorado. If you are in the area, go check them out! 3633 West 32nd Ave, Denver, CO 80211.
exibiting in 2024
A rare opportunity to see one of my SpaceScapes was possible at the Memento Mori Gallery in the 40W Arts District of Denver this past August. My 36”x24” oil on canvas painting, Planetary Limb, was part of the Color Out of Space exhibit. 6451 W. Colfax Ave Suite B, Lakewood, CO 80214
See more of my space-related paintings in my What Lies Beyond collection.
Learn about why I sometimes paint space-related paintings: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-Qh58Qv6RR/
I am honored to have had two paintings in the new exhibit, Exploring Climate Change Through Art, at the Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado. This juried exhibit was a collaboration between Friends of the National Center, UCAR Center for Science Education, and the Museum of Boulder. The art opening was on Friday, May 17, 2024 and required pre-registration for tickets.
Artist Statement:
Coyote Walking, 38”x50” framed oil on canvas (left)
Much of my artwork addresses the impact of global warming on wildlife in the western US. As water becomes scarcer, many species are threatened by drought, changing food sources, and habitat loss, while some, like the coyote, prosper as they learn to adapt. I paint the wildlife of the west while symbolically representing these changes through altered color, line, and shape. By doing this, I am acknowledging that their world, and their chances of survival, are changing as we alter the landscapes and climate of our shared planet. As a glass-half-full kind of person, the colors I use express an optimism in their futures. Today is a moment in the larger story of what was and what will be.
Standing, 38”x50” framed oil on canvas (right)
The bison, which occurs often in my artwork and for me is a symbol of perseverance, is painted large and static, filling the canvas. The bison is not walking through, not moving on; it is standing, it is staying, persevering. It faces hardships with low genetic diversity, droughts, and habitat loss, but there is no giving up. We are also not giving up, despite many Americans resisting efforts to curb global warming. The colors I use are an expression of my optimism in all our futures, particularly with the blue lines that curve within the bison and landscape, representing its connection to the land and to water, which all life on Earth requires to exist.
Two of my paintings were accepted into the national juried exhibition, Earth First, at the Floyd Center for the Arts in Floyd, Virginia. These paintings spent the first part of the summer in Virginia on display from April 20 - June 1, 2024.
This Moment (left): This lion walks her path in the Masai Mara, with her own purpose, her own story. I wonder about her future and how it will be shaped by the actions of humankind. 20"x24" oil on canvas framed in natural pine to 22"x26".
Waiting for the Unexpected (right): An elk looks up from a barren sunlit hillside, as if startled by the observer. This 24"x24" oil on canvas was created over an older painting with much of the original painting showing through in the elk's antlers and body. It is framed in natural pine to approximately 26"x26".
I had three paintings in the Reflections of Culture exibit that opened March 2nd at The Armory Performing Arts Center in Brighton, Colorado. This exhibit was a joint effort by the Womens Caucus for the Arts in Colorado (WCACO) and the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council (CHAC) in Denver, and brings together artwork that reflects our individual and shared cultures. The opening reception was on March 2 from 5-8pm and included live music from both a jazz trio and a mariachi band. The exhibit, which ran through May 17th, was located at 300 Strong St, Brighton, CO 80601.
(Clockwise from top-left)
Pasture Raised is a 22”x28” oil on canvas painting of cattle on my parent’s farm in rural Missiouri. This Side is a 12”x12” oil on canvas painting of a bison, photographed at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, and framed in natural pine. Standing is a 36”x48” oil on canvas painting, framed in natural pine, of a bison that is painted large and static, filling the canvas, not moving on; it is staying, persevering.
The 6000 circles project is an international effort to include artists from around the world in celebrating the feminine through circles of art over the course of nine months in 2024. In Denver, this project was on display in the Niza Knoll Gallery (Santa Fe Arts District) during February and in the Next Gallery (40 West Arts District) during April, after which it was moved to Trinidad, CO for display with circles from Colorado and New Mexico. My 2-sided circle represents the complexity of feminity with abstract art on one side, pages of mathematics on the other, unified by a print of a flower on both.
My still life painting, All Dressed Up, was in the WCACO Members Exhibit, Body of Knowledge, at Niza Knoll Gallery in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver during the month of February, 2024. This oil on canvas painting was created in the fall of 2021 when, because of covid shutdowns, I often felt very much like I was all dressed up with no where to go. This is a 10”x10” oil on canvas, framed in natural pine to approximately 12”x12”.
Exhibiting in 2023
Two of my paintings were included in the October “Skulls and Bones” exhibit at Memento Mori Gallery in the 40 West Arts District of Denver, CO, which ran Oct 6-28, 2023. 6451 West Colfax Ave, Suite B, Lakewood, CO 80214. To read more about these paintings and this exhibit, check out my blog post, “Painting Skulls”.
When I saw the call for artwork that depicts “scenes and activities related to life on the eastern prairie” of Colorado, I knew I would be submitting these pieces for consideration. All three were on display at the 1st Annual Art on the Prairie Show at the Plains Conservation Center, 21901 E. Hampden Ave, Aurora, CO 80013, July 7-14, 2023. The opening reception on July 7th included a food truck and live music, a telescope focused on bald eagles nesting in a nearby tree, and lots of beautiful art.
I am honored that my painting, Slow Shift to Tomorrow (30"x40" oil on canvas), was included in the art exhibit, Mud Season, which ran April 7-30, 2023 at the 40 West Gallery and celebrated spring in Colorado. Opening Reception was 6-9pm on Fri April 7th as part of the 40 West Arts District First Friday Art Crawl. 40 West Gallery is inside the HUB building, 6501 W. Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80214.
artist statement:
Slow Shift to Tomorrow is about impermanence and gradual change, whether considering the passage of the bison as it walks, the reliable change in season, the natural altering of landscapes over time, or the long-term impact humanity has on our environment and the resulting effects on wildlife that share these spaces.
Here, the bison is depicted with only an outline and a little shading, largely transparent to the background. It is only passing through this place, present only for a moment against the landscape. The landscape, too, is shifting, painted in transparent layers showing what lies beneath, before.
Slow Shift to Tomorrow, a 30”x40” oil on canvas painting by Monica Hokeilen
Across Faxafloi Bay is a 14”x14” oil on canvas painting framed in natural pine by Monica Hokeilen
My painting, Across Faxafloi Bay, was on display at the 931 Gallery in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver as part of the “Our View” exhibit with the Women’s Caucus for Art Colorado Chapter. This painting was inspired by my trip to Iceland in 2019 and created during the covid pandemic in 2021/2022. Our View ran March 24 - April 23, 2023 at 931 Santa Fe Dr, Denver, CO 80204.