----- I have been awarded the Michigan Art Education Association Scholarship at Michigan State University, the Homan Foundation Scholarship, and the True North Community Service Scholarship. Other recognition of the work has been displayed by the Newago County Fine Arts Foundation and by The West Michigan Student Showcase. The art has been exhibited in The Daac, PAAC Gallery in The Performing Arts Center, Human Temple cultural center and restaurant 106 Gallery, Sustainable Agriculture Center, Alexander Calder Atrium, Alexander Calder Padnos Gallery, and The Arts Place. I have completed a residency in Serbia for Valda Baxx at Belgrade Art Studio.
----- To make a cast, I decide which method fits the subject better: sand or ceramic shell. I then build a model to test. I am connecting to computer visualization and planning in a 3D render. The grid aids the design in an experimental environment, a place for playful change. Once the model is printed, I can add corporal details by hand carving out of wax or packing the mold around the cast object with a two-part mix in the sand. Both go through a burnout process when the mold is finished, in which multiple people partake in pouring the molten metal into the final versions of the molds. Afterward, a clean-up connection happens with a weld bead. One time is all it took before the attractiveness that welding has to build forms truly stood out. The speed of connection, durability, and energy coming from the torch engages my practice like no other.
----- The sketches embody a distinct feeling that evokes sublime outdoor impressions. My construct of beauty requires deep care in retelling a true character within the processes, such as the light of the bead moving, emphasis on the dynamic form of the cast, and proportion scaled to the viewer. Then the subject goes through a remarkable transformation in the fabrication phase. I find the juxtaposition that digital art can communicate to traditional practices rich. I am conceptually curious about how a natural subject attempts to build fertile patterns in the mind, impacting its learning or unlearning, as well as how this ripple scales in an ecosystem. In addition to themes, how shallow freedom is in the resistance of experience, and having fought this experience often comes at an inspiration cost.