Who am I?
Through becoming an artist and designer, I learned a lot about myself and my place in the world. Coming up through a design focused program, I discovered how much more versatile the arts can be than most people realize, and that inspired me to pursue it as far as I can. There are two sides to how I view my work that can balance each other out perfectly. On one hand, art to me can be unfiltered expression. This is what it has meant to me since I was very young, putting pencil to paper and letting my hand lead the way, ahead of any conscious intentions. The often non-representational figures that are conceived are my honest raw ideas, which I can then either expand on or leave as their simple forms if they strike me as not needing anything else, to depict what I have in mind. Often playing with geometry and perspective, I love to warp forms and space in ways that can only be depicted in two dimensions. Impossible figures, multiple perspectives, and abstracted landscapes are a few of the mechanics in my art that I enjoy creating the most. The other side to art, which I picked up through my education, is the value it has in its flexibility, and what it can mean professionally. I have worked in publications, souvenirs, and apparel, and it has been so fulfilling to find that there is a need for design almost everywhere you look. Learning the skills and the language has put me in a place in life where I’m confident there will always be somewhere, if I look diligently, where I’ll get to make a living doing what I enjoy. Having my own personal style is just as valuable to me as learning how to adapt to a style that’s in demand. One doesn’t take anything away from the other, and I have found that there’s plenty room enough to be both honest and collaborative. Whether my medium is ink on paper, or digitally designed and printed on wide format commercial printers, I can put my head down, enjoy the work, and feel pride with the finished product either personally, professionally, or a combination of the two.