Join the McGovern Center for Humanities & Ethics at UTHealth Houston for a virtual conversation with acclaimed contemporary painter Alyssa Monks, hosted by McGovern Center Resident Artist Laura Spector.

Known for her evocative, large-scale figurative paintings, Monks explores vulnerability, resilience, human connection, and the emotional complexities of everyday life. Her work pushes the boundaries of traditional realism, using layers of glass, water, steam, foliage, and other visual barriers to move between representation and abstraction.

Monks’ paintings have been exhibited internationally, including at the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts in New York and Kunstmuseum Ahlen in Germany, and are held in numerous public and private collections. She has lectured and taught at universities and institutions worldwide, and her TED Talk on her work and creative process has reached an international audience.

During this live conversation, Monks and Spector will explore art, observation, resilience, the creative process, and the ways personal experience enters an artist’s work. An audience Q&A will follow.

Arts & Resilience, established in 2017, brings accomplished artists, writers, musicians, actors, poets, and filmmakers into conversation with the UTHealth Houston community and the public.

Presented by McGovern Medical Center for Humanities & Ethics at UTHealth.