Artist Statement

As an artist it is my desire to take creativity out of it's box—to keep art simply free and flowing... not contained. When I was a child, I would have time during the day to draw and play. More times than once, my mom would give me crayons and paper to color with. And more times than once I would wait for her to stop looking and I would sneak behind the couch and use the wall as my canvas instead. This can be seen as rebelling against my parents, but I like to see it as taking the lid off of what art is "supposed" to be and showing off what it truly is: living, moving and breathing.

Art isn't just a hobby I use to decorate my home, nor is it a job I have to attend to in order to be paid. I believe I can experience pencil gliding across paper just as much as a dancer can experience their garments soaring in the air around them. I can feel paint leaving a brush just as much as a musician can feel the vibrations of their instrument. I find the process of approaching a composition just as intimate as the outcome.

Passion plays the largest role in my life as an artist while desire fuels the way. Without heart in the equation what we make is empty. I believe that being in touch with your heart and seeing what it is that surrounds you with open eyes is what makes an artwork powerful. The core of the artist is just as important as their mirrored reflection.

Ordinary things are beautiful and beautiful things can be ordinary—it's a matter of how we decide to see them. This is what I am passionate about: choosing to help in the quest to see beauty, feel beauty, and experience beauty. To me, art cannot be contained. It has to be expressed.

In all my years of studying visual arts I have discovered how crucial the way we see is. I have also discovered how important the heart behind the art is. With both in mind, I have chosen to be an artist who is determined to see with my heart and if I can use my creative ability to show others what it is I see and how it is I see it, then that is what I want my pieces to portray. I desire to continue on in using what I am learning to create artworks that are not only powerful in subject, but have depth in the sight of the matter.