Drive Thru Art Box: "My Family Vine" by Jazz Howington

ARTS Southeast is pleased to present My Family Vine an installation by Jazz Howington on display in the Drive Thru Art Box at Green Truck Pub from October 15, 2026 - January 8, 2027 HAPPY HOUR ARTIST TALK: Wednesday, October 21, at 6:30PM ABOUT THE PROJECT: “As of 2025, 23.3 million of 134.8 million American households (17.3%) were married couples with their own children under 18, so 82.7% of households were not. The “nuclear ideal of the family as a heterosexual marriage, with children who are the genetic progeny of that union,” isn’t the household experience of most Americans today. For those Americans, nuclear family structure doesn’t exist, and for the 9% of Americans who are LGBTQIA+, there is no blueprint for what family looks like. My work celebrates and displays these unconventional relationships to provoke a new definition of the word ‘Family.’ I challenge the notion that blood relations are somehow more legitimate; it diminishes the lives of those who do not have their own nuclear unit. While family can mean kinship, it also describes the people in our lives who are our safety net, confidants, our ride-or-dies. To me, family means the people that we can’t imagine walking this world without, the ones who make us feel seen. While I do not strive for realism, I endeavor to capture likeness and make the connection palpable between subjects. Through subtly narrative portrait painting, I use acrylic glazing techniques usually reserved for oils, and keep the figures soft. “My Family Vine” explores a found-family metaphor that acknowledges the resilience and flexible nature of our relationships. Unlike the roots from a traditional family tree, the vine sprawls horizontally and refuses to conform, creating a structure all of its own. Vines are often cut, pruned, guided, and formed because they cannot support their own weight, much like my queer community that finds our own structure and support. I paint with fluorescents, knowing that the lightfastness isn’t good, knowing that the colors will fade. I am exploring how the work evolves and changes over time, much like relationships that start with such intensity and then fade or blossom into something more muted yet steadfast. This work elevates those deemed as ‘friends’ to a higher status, displaying that, much like a vine, the heart chooses the people I call family.” - Jazz Howington ABOUT THE ARTIST: Jazz Howington is a versatile painter, muralist, and illustrator who paints those left out of the frame: queer couples, chosen family, the quiet intimacy of LGBTQIA+ life as it's actually lived. Jazz started her career in 2012 (SCAD Illustration Alumnus 2011), and transitioned to the world of technology and UX Design to survive capitalism. You can find Jazz creating art on nights and weekends at Studio 5, in Cedar House Gallery. She paints subtly narrative figures and portraits, working in acrylic on canvas or collage. Jazz is building a body of work that insists queer love and queer family are worth looking at; carefully, tenderly, and in full color.