About Me

Since I can remember, art has always called to me. I've always enjoyed experimenting with different techniques, natural materials, and discovered objects in my artwork.

My work has evolved into an investigation into my relationship with the world: what is there and what isn't there, what is visible and what isn't visible, how this and that interact, and how it all relates and doesn't relate.

I combine and experiment with diverse materials and components, and I believe in letting my creations take their own path throughout the process. This appeals to me because I consider my work to be exploratory study.

Initially, my work was centered on traditional aesthetic components, which I represented through illustration and oil painting. When my vision deteriorated during my college years due to diabetes complications, I began to see the world in a more abstract manner and got interested in exploring the abstract and how it reflected a new relationship to my environment.

Given that my vision has somewhat improved through surgery and rehabilitation, I still enjoy some aspects of illustration, but in more fluid forms.

My art is meant to be interpreted, and the audience is encouraged to develop their own relationship with my pieces, inviting them to appreciate new connections between these items, the arts, the world, and life.

Today, I am devoted to expanding my concepts and deepening my connections to my influences, and I am excited to see where my future leads me on this path as both an artist and an educator.

I am a proud SMFA@Tufts alumnus with a B.F.A. and a Diploma in Studio Arts, and I am presently pursuing an MAE at Adelphi University. I'm also finishing up my Student Teaching Observations and working as an interim substitute teacher at Ross School in East Hampton.

Mission Statement

As an artist, I believe that art should reflect freedom of expression while also allowing both the creator and the viewer to feel a personal connection to it.

Influences in my work include "natural vs. man-made," cyclical themes of life and death, biomimicry, repurposing materials, and the "experimental."

I enjoy working in two and three dimensions to create visually appealing compositions that enable the observer to see the variety of materials contained within.

Many of my works allow the observer to spend time looking at the various pieces, materials, and hidden treasures that have been incorporated.

Because I have a strong background in Studio Arts, I enjoy integrating my talents in painting, drawing, sculpting, and bookmaking into my work, and I am constantly experimenting with new artistic techniques in my creative journey.

I hope that my art inspires everyone and encourages others to indulge, escape, connect, or consider ways to produce their own unique creations. pursuing an MAE at Adelphi University. I'm also finishing up my Student Teaching Observations and working as an interim substitute teacher at Ross School in East Hampton.

Artist Statement

Creativity has always enticed me to gather materials and put them together in my own unique way, since I was a child. It was a passion, a calling, and a guidance to help me discover my relationship with the world.

I was lucky enough to attend schools that embraced the arts. When I think of art from my childhood, I don't recall formal educational settings; rather, I remember sculpting with playdough for the first time. Time when my mother laughed as I destroyed walls with crayons, my collection of stickers that HAD to be on our green living room lamp, collecting cicada shells with my father during the brood. My house quickly became a cacophony of gathered exceptional items that I created with; gifts given to friends and family to express the miracle I saw in them.

I recall one art teacher from my youth. She had a small art shed on her property in the middle of the woods that reminded me of a fairy-tale cottage, and she inspired me think about art in new ways. She noticed how much I enjoyed nature and recommended that we go outside and study it or collect objects to make a collage. She was the one who taught me how to paint with spray paint. When I saw my first golden leaf, my mind was blown, and I made it. It only took a paint can. These things, these experiences, had a sense of enchantment attached to them.

When I was 11 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and my entire world changed. I was the only diabetic I was aware of. I felt misunderstood, restricted, alone, and afraid. It was then that I started using art to really express myself. This is when art began to heal me; it helped me feel stronger. Art gave me a means to address the unknown, the feelings of uncertainty, and explore what it meant to me on paper and canvas.

In high school, I became fascinated by the undead or zombies, as well as the cyclical processes of life and death in humanity and nature. This could be because my mortality has been a source of anxiety for me since my diabetes diagnosis. It was a personal study, and I was excited to have the opportunity to look delve into it for my senior project. My senior project adviser was a high school art teacher who encouraged me to create a series of pieces about zombies and put them together in an installation. It afforded me the opportunity to do thorough research on the subject through movies, novels, research papers, and other art. It was the first time I had the chance to study and research a topic of my own choosing for a long time in an academic setting. I spent a year exploring the world of creative investigation. It made me pause and think, Yes! This is the direction I want to take my life!

Painting and illustration were my comfort zones when I initially started college. I attended SMFA and Tufts in Boston, and I was excited to be getting my BFA at this prominent art school. My first semester was filled with oil painting classes, drawing and illustration, English, and core courses. I appreciated the independence of college, the flexibility to fashion talents, and the development of certain subjects. I was looking forward to these new experiences for the length of my studies and felt like I could accomplish anything. However, this did not turn out to be the case, which is something I am grateful for today.

Everything changed when I went into a diabetic coma over the holidays and was again reminded of my mortality. I intended to return to academics, but because my mind was hazy during my rehabilitation, I concentrated on art studies. My vision got worse as I got better, and my old comfort zones and how I handled my art became less appealing. There were things about it that I didn't like, because I was critical of myself and my situation.

As a result, academics and written studies became particularly
challenging and frustrating for me. After speaking with my advisors, we decided that working in a studio may be a good fit for me while I rehabilitated. This proved to be the case, so I shifted my concentration from a BFA to a studio diploma, as I still enjoyed going to school and wanted to learn more about art. Art still called to me, and I had the desire to create, but my relationship with the world had changed. I needed to get back to basics, to reformulate the questions that propelled me in my relationship with everything.

It was difficult for me to be accurate, to examine things in minute detail as I used to, so I had to find another approach. The faculty at this institution inspired me; they encouraged me to think outside the box, experiment with new mediums, accept mistakes, take risks, and were interested in this new discovery of my engagement with the world and art. When I started mending again, the magic returned. I am the artist I am today because of these teachers, my mentors, who pushed me to pursue my art and academia to the point where I felt confident enough to return and complete my BFA thanks to the insights and tactics I learned along the way.

I am the artist I am today because of these teachers, my mentors, who pushed me to pursue my art and academia to the point where I felt confident enough to return and complete my BFA thanks to the insights and tactics I learned along the way.

Where I am now is on a path to honor those educators, to continue exploring my relationship with art, and to aim to become a teacher who inspires future generations to, hopefully, generate their own magic one day.