About the Artist
Education
Designlab, UI/UX Certification 2023
DePaul University, Bachelor of Arts, Studio Arts, 2016
Sarah Lawrence College, Liberal Studies, 2013
Exhibitions
Hybernate 2020 Warehouse 4200
Her. Exhibition 2018 Firecat Projects
Night Market & Exhibition 2018 Firecat Projects
Night Market & Exhibition 2017 Hummingbird Studios
Emerging Artist Showcase 2017 University Club of Chicago
12.6 Showcase 2017 Andersonville Pop Up Gallery
Andersonville Arts Weekend 2017 First Slice Cafe
Legacy Night DePaul Fundraiser 2017 Wicker Park Pop Up Gallery
The Show In 2017 Smith’s Central Garage
Verse: Raw Artists Showcase 2017 the Metro
Andersonville Arts Weekend 2016 ArtPop 5438
DePaul Senior Capstone 2016 DePaul Art Museum
AMD Student Showcase 2016 DePaul Student Center
I Am I 2016 DePaul Student Center
Tangible Culture 2016 DePaul Art Department
Humor & Melodrama 2016 DePaul Art Department
Artist Statement
Working as a visual artist in Chicago, I find a continual influx of opportunity and inspiration around me. At times it can be thrilling, but can also be chaotic. Finding a calm in within the city to reflect and create is key to my artistic practice.
I found an incubator for creativity at DePaul University, where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Arts with concentration in painting and printmaking and a minor in sociology. Part of the magic of DePaul is its broad liberal studies program, in which I was able to study philosophy, science, even rock music. In my eyes, art is not an isolated field of study. The various classes I took had an impact on my work and the way I approach a painting. There is always a conscious level of thought behind each piece. Aiming for more than visual cohesion, my work starts with an idea and grows through the consequent search for visual explanation.
Since my graduation I have exhibited work throughout the city in various group and solo pop-up exhibitions. I have had the pleasure of working with a variety of artists of various means and mediums and have found homes for my work in some rather unconventional places; perhaps my favorite of these was a café specializing in delectable pies. Every show I’ve had has left me feeling excited about art; the way it touches people’s lives, evoking memories, thoughts, and feelings, and often sending a poignant message while transforming the space it occupies.
Aiming for more than visual cohesion, my work starts with an idea that grows through the consequent search for visual explanation. I explore my experiences with emotion, nature, and human interaction through perceptive form, expressive line and powerful color. My work confronts a variety of topics whilst maintaining an aura of abstraction.
While travel is a favorite way to reinvigorate and motivate myself, fragments from my daily existence are more likely to frequent my work: familiar color schemes, faces of friends, favorite spaces, my plants, my dreams and loves are my muse. Amidst a turbulent political landscape, I utilize art making as a vehicle for relief from such grievances, and aim to create a calm in the storm, a place for reflection and rejuvenation.
Most recently, I’ve focused on the way a portrait can be dissected and made cohesive in a fresh way. The process starts with a blind contour drawing, a practice my mother and I loved while I was growing up. From there, my delight for line and color come through in oil. Dedicated to details within a larger image; each line and shape exists in relation to another. The way in which these forms interact engages the next step of the work. My love for the interaction between pigments is obvious in the reflection that goes into selecting every hue incorporated in each piece. It is in my paintings where I dive into color considerations and theory. At times my intuitive choices demand a debated study for the next color cue to be taken from my experimental palette.
In printmaking, I find myself lost to the comfort of the repetitive process of cutting and shaping the linoleum. Although the methods differ, my thoughts and practice remain constant. Favoring the simple palette of black and white, I allow the movement of the carvings to speak for themselves.