MRD's very own Moxie Dynamite is the artist behind this year's Memphis in May poster.

by Angelina Rolie

Sometimes you just have to miss derby practice. Especially when you're selected as the artist to create Memphis in May's annual poster.

"I missed one practice the night before the Memphis in May guy was coming over to look at my initial sketches," says Moxie Dynamite, project manager by day, artist by night, and Z-Girl on the side. "I think I only missed one. I also spent one practice upset because I couldn't get the right color of olives."

Moxie's poster, which honors the country of Spain, consists of six different panels with images of olives, buildings, bull fighters, and flamenco dancers.

"I knew I wanted to represent the architecture, the people and the culture, and the landscape," says Moxie. "I couldn't pick just one image that said Spain."

She also knew she wanted the poster to be in her signature style of interestingly cropped images. "I like to work from photographs," she says. "Usually I would work from my own photographs."

Only one problem: she had never been to Spain.

"I did a lot of research the old-fashioned way, at the library," says the Legion of Zoom pivot. In addition to culling images from the library and the Internet, she asked an aunt who was from Spain if she could use her personal photos.

Moxie is represented by Perry Nicole Fine Art and recently showed her paintings, including a derby-inspired piece, alongside work by Susan Maakestad. But this is the first year Moxie felt confident enough to create the MIM poster.

"I've been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil," she says. "I grew up in a house with a lot of art supplies." She began painting with oils in college and says that once she discovered the medium that's all she wanted to use.

"I think my painting skills get better the more I do. I can see the difference in things I painted in the past year from the year before that or five years ago," she says. "The oil paint is starting to do what I want it to do."

Moxie's Memphis in May poster can be purchased at 1910 Frameworks on Union and other frame stores, as well as online at memphisinmay.org. And, she says jokingly, "I also have a few in my trunk."