Senior Jordan Marin’s dream to have his own art exhibition finally came true on Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6 when he hosted an art show titled Color Therapy, where he displayed 35 paintings and a short film under his creative alias J.D.M.

“I got pretty emotional on the first day, because it basically shows to myself that I can do this, I can really take myself seriously as an artist,” Marin said. “And maybe, [I could] even live off of my art as a full time job, and that really means a lot to me, because that’s what I want to do with my life.”

Ever since the idea for the show spawned in August of last year, Marin worked constantly to prepare an exhibition before he turned 19, one of his life goals.

“I told myself, if I made X amount of paintings in six months, I can have an art show before my birthday,” Marin said. “I had designs for a flyer made back in December, along with a business card. I went downtown to ask galleries and asked around to see how I could rent a space.”

Finally, a local art gallery in Round Rock run by Smiling Art Studios gave Marin the chance he’d been waiting to seize for months, letting him display his art and sell pieces ranging from $5 to $600.

“That’s when everything started snowballing,” Marin said. “I had a budget, and I went through the whole budget. It’s kind of just surreal because I did it [and] there’s not really anybody who can take that away from me.”

Seeing Marin’s success was special to his guardian Jeanne Acton-Shanks, as she got to see his months of dedication and hard work pay off.

“He works at his job about 30 hours a week, plus school—that doesn’t leave many free hours,” Acton-Shanks said. “I am in awe of his drive to create and express himself. He puts his heart and soul into each piece, and you can see it.” 

Even after all of Marin’s preparations brought the show to life, many unexpected hurdles arose that he had to adapt to quickly.

“It took me learning how to hang up paintings the right way and figuring out how to deal with not being able to put nails in the wall,” Marin said. “I had to get here the day before and hang up everything before we opened. We did the math, and we had to do a painting every eight minutes, [but] we got it done somehow.”

Now that he’s learned more about what it means to host an art gallery, Marin’s already planning what art will be in his next show, which he hopes will happen before he turns 20.

“I want to see how many things I can super glue to a painting [and] I want to keep experimenting with puff paint,” Marin said. “Puff paint is really interesting because it’s meant to go on fabric, so when you put it on wood or cotton canvas, you can really make a mountain of something.”

For Marin, the gallery represents an ability to continue making art while also turning it into a career, helping him achieve one of his biggest goals in life.

“It means I can be my own boss and I don’t have to work a nine to five,” Marin said. “I might even get ahead of the curve one day and live comfortably in my own way, be able to give back to people and spread the messages I want. It means I can be myself and do what I want to.”