A Lively Sense

Participating Artists: Randy Rodriguez, Brahem Shaw, and Aaron Taylor 

Curated by Amber Nax and Kristi Ternes 

Exhibition Dates: June 5 – September 8, 2025 

Location: PASC Southgate Gallery, 13721 Eureka Road, Southgate, MI 48195

Gallery Hours: Friday, 9 am - 3 pm and by appointment 

This three-person exhibition showcases recent artworks by PASC Southgate artist Randy Rodriguez, and PASC Detroit artists Brahem Shaw and Aaron Taylor. The selected artworks capture a lively sense of movement and joy. The artists draw their artistic inspirations from their memories, familiar locations, cherished individuals in their lives, and even art historical references. With bright and contrasting colors, these references are presented with bold and unmistakable line-work, communicating a revelatory passion, and uninhibited tenacity.   

Randy is a Detroit-based artist working out of the PASC Southgate studio. Through a layering of paints and a sense of movement, Randy's artwork features a bold yet thick gestural line-work reminiscent of Richard Pousette-Dart's Drawing Papers 122 of the 1930’s. A lover of both contemporary and historical art, he channels this dual influence into expressive artworks rendered in India ink, acrylics, or watercolor. Randy often depicts nostalgic creature figures interwoven with geometric shapes or floral elements, using bright, contrasting colors to evoke joy and excitement.  

Brahem is a Detroit-based artist working out of the PASC Detroit studio. His artwork explores themes of childhood nostalgia, memory, and personal experiences. Fascinated by architecture, especially the structure of brick buildings, Brahem often creates pieces inspired by places he has visited or hopes to see one day. Some of the artworks in this exhibit feature buildings personal to the artist. The Lantern complex houses the PASC Detroit Studio and Gallery, while the Helen McKerrow School is where Brahem attended elementary school, where he first learned about Black history icons such as George Washington Carver. His subjects range from historical icons to everyday individuals, rendered in layered combinations of gel pen, acrylic, watercolor, and India ink.  

Aaron is a Detroit-based artist working out of the PASC Detroit studio. Aaron expresses himself through neo-expressionist-like portraiture, painting abstract depictions of himself, family members, and various program staff from his everyday life. His paintings radiate an uninhibited joy, marked by vivid acrylic or watercolor paints in primary colors and bold linework. Most of his figures showcase wide-open eyes and broad smiles, exuding excitement and offering an enthusiastic greeting to the viewer. 

Launched in 2021, Progressive Art Studio Collective (PASC) is the first progressive art and design studio and exhibition program in Detroit and Wayne County dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities and mental health differences to advance artistic practices and build individual careers in the art and design fields. PASC is a program of Services to Enhance Potential (STEP), a non-profit service organization founded in 1972 that provides services and support for more than 1,400 individuals with disabilities and mental health differences across Southeastern Michigan.