Artist Statement
My goal is to push the boundaries of communication in my mixed media artworks as an act of repossession. Growing up, I struggled to communicate with others. My speech impediment immobilized my verbal confidence, while dyslexia burned any lingering hope of thriving in the written world. I felt trapped and isolated in a world everyone else seemed to navigate with ease. However, art provided me with the tools and room to find my voice in a space that had rendered me silent. Through my artwork, I could make my thoughts, feelings, and experiences tangible to others.
My artistic practice hinges on my exploration of different mediums to create a mixed cacophony that captures my struggle with self-expression. My foundation in painting helps guide me through my journey, an anchor I can fall back on in moments of trouble. I paint with torn paper and sculpt figures out of layers of color. Materials combine to form new meanings, a type of searching that resonates within each piece. This type of investigation lays the foundation for my pedagogy as an art educator. My knowledge of these materials and their boundaries allows me to guide my students through their own journeys of innovative exploration. I work to push others to pursue their creative ideas in new inventive directions that lead to divergent outcomes. In turn, through their unique perspective, they discover and illuminate spaces that tell the world a story that is only theirs to tell.
Senior Project Artist Statement
Beyond Words
I am interested in pushing the boundaries of communication and integrating language into my being as an act of repossession. Growing up, I struggled to communicate with others. My speech impediment immobilized my verbal confidence, while dyslexia burned any lingering hope of thriving in the written world. I felt trapped and isolated in a world everyone else seemed to navigate with ease. However, art provided me with the tools and room to find my voice in a space that had rendered me silent. Through my artwork, I could make my thoughts, feelings, and experiences tangible to others.
In my series, Beyond Words, I am re-examining how dyslexia has shaped my understanding of my own identity. Beyond Words consists of five different 30-by-44-inch two-dimensional mixed media pieces. In this series, I consistently engage in the act of searching, which mirrors my struggle with self-expression. This work captures how this learning disability has affected my perception of myself both internally and externally through the societal lenses of intelligence. As the series progresses, uncertain lines transform into bold, fluid strokes as I learn to rekindle my voice through the visual world. Through mark, that which was wordless becomes realized in an act of both vulnerability and recovery.
