Artist's Statement

The question I followed through this year was, “What lies under the surface, literally and figuratively?” In the beginning, I presented this quite literally with mixed media and themes of skeletons and a bit of inhuman depictions. In my second semester, I leaned more towards using my art to show a figurative or emotional meaning; untold stories. In some of my pieces, I use the literal symbolism to betray a deeper meaning. For example, Futile uses skeletons to show the meaninglessness of the brawl. Other pieces, like Isaac, have little to no symbolism and simply show the untold story that is usually omitted or glossed over. What I learned throughout this year is that it is better to follow your imagination and where your feelings are going than to push against them to create what you think you should create. It is far easier and more fun to make the art that you want to make. It is important to step outside of your comfort zone and try new things and new themes and methods, but I’ve learned to trust my imagination as my baseline.