I do not think that there is a given starting point when any individual is introduced to art. I have a strong belief that we are born into art and whether we decide to embrace it or merely admire it is entirely our own decision. I grew up in a small town in Tennessee and the only classes I ever really enjoyed were art. I did have a pre-constructed sense that art meant you needed to draw well and paint well and that if you didn’t have these “gifts” you might as well be an admirer. I let that go by the time I reached high school. I became immensely transfixed by both ceramics and collage, neither of which required me to be a master painter or an impressive illustrator. In doing so they gave me the outlet for my expressions. I took workshops and sat in on classes pertaining to ceramics and I found mentors and fellow collage artists across the globe to enrich my collages. In 2010, after I had graduated from high school, art became a daily and almost ritual-like profession for me. I began dabbling with street art in a good-hearted attempt to liven the town I felt confined in. After several years and many pieces of artwork created I realized that no matter how much art I made it wouldn’t matter if the world never admired it. In 2013 I took a gigantic leap of faith. I made the decision to leave my little hometown in Tennessee and move to New York to hone my profession. I lived in Queens, NY for a year and a half, working with highly skilled collage artists. I finally presented my work in galleries from Manhattan to Brooklyn. I received a scholarship to attend the Art Students League; a school where artists like Jackson Pollock had studied many years before. I lived and breathed New York and took every opportunity that was given to me. I both created in and admired that city for the chance it had given me to be completely saturated in art. Late in 2014 I decided to relocate myself. I needed a bigger space for my work and as lovely as New York was I needed a bit of calm collection in my life. I moved to Richmond VA where I now reside with my fella and my two best muses, my cats. I continue to work on the profession I love so dearly and I continue to watch it take its maturity and transformation one moment of life at a time.
