My artwork is driven by human experience. There is such a range of emotions we as people feel everyday as we interact with our world and society. I look at how I can take viewers face to face with some of these emotions, like what it feels like to go through trauma, how to appreciate the mundane, and how I as an artist can bring more enjoyment to people’s lives. A good portion of my work is driven by the real extremes we experience in life, the great and the horrible. My series of distorted bodies in color pencil express the turmoil I was experiencing internally where I did not feel safe in my body and I was trying to reconcile my history. This is strongly illustrated by literally tearing apart and twisting the flesh of a human figure into beautiful silhouettes or placing the figures on aesthetically pleasing backgrounds to create that split between how I was feeling and where I wanted to get to. This is to say that, as humans, we need both bad experiences in life to find enjoyment and appreciation of living. Another area of my work is focused on the simplicity of life. I show this through watercolor studies of the view out my window or creating something useful like a jar that becomes a part of my daily habits or a still life of common objects or a portrait. I feel drawn to these ideas because I feel that as people we are drawn to extremes, only thinking about the best and worst moments. The in-between is where we actually spend most of our time, where we relax, get things done, and just live a normal life. It is not everyday we cry and it’s not everyday we can say we had the best day ever. That is not a bad thing, there is a place to appreciate the simpler things in life. I also enjoy bringing to life the fun and celebration we experience in life. There is something special about bringing something unique and special to a celebration like making a mural for a party or making a gift for someone to give a friend they care about. It is another level of enjoyment because it is the only time I can really see my art be interacted with, when people can come up to me and say they appreciate what I have done because it brought something special to a greater whole. This gives me a drive to do more work for people, to bring enjoyment to people who would not otherwise be exposed to art.