Artist Statement

As an artist I like to experiment on my projects and with that comes some risk-taking actions. While experimenting I like to push the boundaries of the materials to see how far they could go. I learned to accept the happy accidents and to roll with the mistakes. I try not to get so focused on perfection; this is something that I struggle a lot with, but I am slowly getting better at letting things not be perfect. Sometimes the mistakes are what make the project perfect. Taking risks allows me to get closer to being comfortable with the fact that it may not come out perfect. While taking risks, I am also exploring with being looser with how I draw. Meaning that my work is not so tight, it is more fluid. I am currently exploring with my imagery being more abstract which allows me to show the looser side of my drawings.

Most of my influences come from my surroundings rather than from specific artists. For example, the environment that I’m around whether that be walking in the woods, on the beach, the people I am with or the activities I’m doing. Social media (i.e., Instagram and Facebook) is another source for me to find inspiration. There are various artists that I look at depending on what type of project I am currently working on.

I like to be very hands on with my projects, which is why I really enjoy sculpture. Another medium I use for projects is screen printing. Screen printing can be any design that I create or even a photograph that I take that can be put into a print. What I really enjoy about screen printing is that it can be printed on anything. I can also print a design or photo as many times as I want. I noticed that I gravitate towards combining different mediums.

A lot of my projects, especially sculpture, have a subject matter that plays on the audiences’ emotions and reactions. To help get the audience to feel these emotions I try to transform the space where my projects are being displayed. The emotions my subject matter tends to evoke in people is fear and the feeling of being uncomfortable. I am able to execute this really well with my sculpture projects; however, I am still finding a way to do the same with my printmaking projects. One way I found out how to execute this for printmaking was to combine it with sculpture. Lately, my recent projects have been focusing on my own personal struggles in life. I have been trying to represent something that someone cannot physically see.

My work interests me the most when I can really get behind an idea. When this happens, I become more invested in the project which in the end makes my work become more meaningful whether that be more meaningful to me or with a conceptual idea. I have been creating projects that have bigger conceptual meanings, some have impacted my life or the life of the people who are around me which has caused me to switch up the subject matter that I am normally drawn to. The steps that I have taken in this new direction have benefited me as an artist and because of this the direction I continue to head towards is one where my work is starting to have a voice and a bigger meaning than just, I created this because I felt like it. Even though it is okay to have work just because, the key is to find the balance between the two.