Examples of April’s work including this months cover, much of which examines the polarities of good versus evil, hangs on the walls of the Gumbo Bar on Postoffice Street in Galveston’s historic district.
Gonzalez said Bushnell always had a natural penchant for the arts. “She has a God-given talent,” he said. In second grade, she won a ribbon in the Houston Livestock
Show and Rodeo art contest for her magic marker drawing of a horse’s head. She still has it. After graduating from Channelview High School in 2002, Bushnell enrolled in San Antonio College’s Department of Visual Arts and Technology. In 2006, she set her sights on the Big Apple. Her world and her faith were toppled in 2009, with the unexpected death of her beloved mother from a heart attack at age 56. A month after the funeral, Bushnell returned to school, but her life began to unravel. “I made some bad decisions in almost all aspects of my life,” Bushnell said. “Six months of personal hell passed by until I decided I couldn’t handle living in New York anymore. But with her being gone, it felt like there was no more home to go back to.” Herman Gonzalez and his wife, Barbara, offered Bushnell a safe harbor, and a new home. “Her anchor was her mother, but when she passed, April began to drift and she was lost,” Gonzalez said. The couple and their children now consider her part of the family.
Gonzalez encouraged Bushnell to follow the path God prepared for her. He urged her to create several works they could present to restaurant owners on Galveston Island, a popular spot for tourists and Houston-area residents alike, and where her work could get the most exposure. After seven months of painting, the two left their home in Magnolia, Texas, headed south, and cast a wide net. Bushnell received positive feedback, but no offers until a stop at the Gumbo Bar, and a chance meeting with one of its owners, Danny Hart. “April was eating lunch, and I stopped by the table, and she showed me her work,” Hart said. “It fits with the Cajun feeling of the place, and I thought it would look great on the wall. She’s very talented.” Bushnell said it’s providence that her work is displayed on the island. She and her mother spent nearly every Mother’s Day in Galveston, where they enjoyed the sun and sea air, rollerbladed on the seawall, and dined at their favorite beachfront restaurant, Fish Tales Seafood Grill. For more information about April Bushnell’s work or how to purchase, visit
www.aprilbushnell.com.
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