Some might recognize Abuhamada’s face as the winner of America’s Top Model Petite Edition (her last name was Fox at the time). Today, the married mother of one works as a creative arts program manager for Itineris Foundation Inc. in Baltimore, which serves autistic adults, while also pursuing her love of painting.

A few weeks before the show’s opening, when the 31-year-old was finishing the last of her paintings for “Notional Ekphrasis,” she took a moment to talk with 72 Hours.

Tell me about the inspiration for your exhibition in general. What came first the paintings or the poems?

That kind of like goes into the reason I titled it “Notional Ekphrasis,” because really, these paintings are about the interplay between literary and visual arts. Some of the poems came before their paintings and some of them happened back and forth simultaneously.

What was the process for this show? Did you complete a piece and realize you had a whole series in you?

This exhibition actually stems from projects I did for my bachelor’s degree (in creative writing and studio art at Hood College). I was in a program where undergraduate students make a thesis project, and the thesis project that I proposed was an illustrated collection of poetry. I started that about two years ago. For the project, I chose an adviser and two committee members. One of the committee members (Cynthia Baush) is an associate professor at FCC of visual arts, and she thought the collection was worth exhibiting. She referred me to the program manager, and that’s how this exhibition came up.

I’ve talked to a lot of artists over the years who have a particular medium they love the most. Why did you decide on oil painting, in particular?

The first reason is that when I was around 9 years old, my dad bought my mom an easel and a set of oil paints. And I watched her make a painting and I thought ‘Oh, gosh, I really want to do that.’ Then when my parents saw that I had an interest, they brought me to art galleries, and I noticed that some of the paintings I liked the most were the old masters and were all done in oil. Then I took my first oil painting class when I was 12 … and I loved it. More recently, I found that I work slowly and I don’t have to worry about the painting drying before I’m ready, which is never a concern with oil, so it suits me.

How exciting has it been for you to create a solo show?

It’s been really great to push myself and see how far I can go with it. Having a goal as an artist really helps to stay focused and have something that you’re aiming toward.

You were the winner of America’s Top Model Petite Edition, and you’ve also acted. Did either of these have any influence on you as a visual artist?

I think something I really took away from acting that I might not have gotten otherwise is the idea of making yourself vulnerable, and being honest and vulnerable in your work has the ability to really reach people, and that should kind of be the goal. That’s not something I ever learned in a painting class, but it’s something that I keep in mind when I paint. I try to veer away from more decorative paintings and art for art’s sake and really try to dive into the deeper meaning of each painting.

What do you hope people will take away from your exhibition when they see it?

I hope that they are encouraged to listen to their intuition and maybe to pay attention to their dreams and the stranger side of life, because that’s often the focus of my art pieces. I’m really inspired by the work of Clive Barker and how expressive his pieces are. When I see his oil paintings, I am always reminded to push myself to be more expressive. I hope people come away with the feeling that they could push themselves to freely express themselves in their lives, in whatever shape that may take them.

This interview has been edited for space and clarity.

Crystal Schelle is a journalist whose work has been published locally, regionally and nationally. She enjoys trivia, cats and streaming movies.