About me

I have always adored reading and the exploration it offered. Those ideas and varying perspectives are what I convey to my viewer through my artwork. It began with a reading program at my elementary school in which we read books and then drew illustrations taken from the pages to complete the reports, some I still have today. My current artwork is inspired by themes and symbolism discovered in books and poetry I have read. I start by brainstorming connections between those ideas and what could be visually associated with them, both the expected and unexpected. One example being the “Love it Like a Toad” lithography print colored with watercolor; it was inspired by Agnes Grey written by Anne Brontë. In Agnes’s world where a toad can never be loved in the same way as a beautiful bird, I want to portray the opposite. In my illustration the toad is a queen with many bright, eye-catching colors, while the birds are a plain brown and there to help her. 

What especially appeals to me in regard to literature is the connection to one’s emotions. Just as authors combine setting, plot, and characters together, I employ balance, movement, and color as my main tools. The artworks range from light and playful, to darker, more tranquil and solemn pieces. They are portals the viewer can use to explore feelings related to their own experiences while also discovering new connections these stories have to offer. My artwork may have an original intent, but it is always left open to interpretation, as literature often is. I find it fascinating to hear what others associate with my work by connecting it to what they are familiar with. 

“I think that the power of art is the power to wake us up, strike our depths, change us. What are we searching for when we read a novel, see a film, listen to a piece of music? We are searching, though a work of art, for something that alters us, that we weren’t aware of before.” -Jhumpa Lahiri