Artist Statement

 My life is not what most people would call normal or picture perfect. I don't have a mom and a dad, and I don't live with my sister. My mother was an artist; she studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. Some of her work was really great; unfortunately she made some bad choices and passed away a few years ago. My dad went to jail before I was born. My older sister moved to Amsterdam with her dad when she was younger, where she is now in college. Although these things may be unfavorable circumstances, I strongly believe that they have made me the artist I am today. My mom was a very creative person; she liked to use a variety of ideas and mediums in her work. I've always enjoyed creating art, in elementary school I kept a portfolio of all of my drawings that ranged from sketches of super heroes that I had come up with in my head, to detailed pictures of my perception of Jesus. When I look at my mom's work it doesn't make me want me to keep making art, because I've always enjoyed that and always will. Rather it inspires me to be as good as she was someday. I want to follow in her footsteps, I want to pick up where she left off, because I believe strongly that if she had gotten her life back together, and kept making art that her work could be hanging in a gallery today, most likely somewhere quiet by the ocean because that's what she would have wanted.
 
 When I make my own art, I like to look at my surroundings until something catches my eye. Then I start to think. I think about the journey that "thing" has taken, why it is where it is now, and why exactly did that certain thing catch my eye on that day? I don't necessarily start to think of ways that I can put that specific thing into a piece of art. I try to take all the ideas that I thought of when I was thinking about it, combine all those thoughts together and put that into some form of art. My work doesn't have any guidelines or limits. It changes day to day depending on the way that I'm feeling. To me art is the highest form of expression, and if I don't have art then how else will I express myself? As long as I keep feeling different, then I'll keep making art.