My mother and father have owned a stained glass business for almost a decade longer than I’ve been on this earth. I spent a lot of my childhood inside their warehouses and studios experimenting with the medium. I absorbed all kinds of knowledge about the properties, uses, and physics of stained glass, as well as inheriting my mother’s sense of color relationships, light, and aesthetics. I used to sit and watch my mom draw out patterns for leaded stained glass and sandblasting. My taste for elegant line, detail, and pattern seem surely to have stemmed from these experiences. I visualize each line carefully before putting it down on the page.

Exposure and practice with a variety of materials is probably the most important factor of my artwork. I approach each medium differently, exploiting its properties as much as possible. Recently, I’ve been working with the idea of transferring my favorite themes, (such as nature, light, detail, and pattern,) into various media to discover what things change, and what aspects remain constant. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the joy of responding to the challenges of the materials.

My childhood experience in an art classroom setting was very limited. I knew I wanted to be a teacher, so I chose to focus on academics, leaving art as a hobby to occupy boredom. In high school, after years without any art classes, I started photography in my sophomore year. I plunged into it headfirst, and it immediately took over as my new favorite hobby. Finally, senior year, I took my first Fine Arts class since sixth grade, and it hit me like a lightning bolt… yes I wanted to teach, but I never knew what I wanted to teach. It all clicked, and I haven’t looked back since.

I’m often asked my preferred medium, and to this day, I have no clue what it is. Be it drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, wood, or graphic design, I have been known to explore a variety of methods and media with the same veracity, all in the name of experimentation and discovery. I am a perfectionist. You can see it in my handwriting, you can see it in my meticulous charting and analysis, and it is impossible to ignore that part of me in my artwork. Line is of the utmost importance in any of my pieces.

Several themes have appeared in my work. These include aspects of strong detail and pattern, natural structures, trees and branches, seasons, temperatures, genre scenes, informal portraits, collections, and especially line. One constant I have noticed in my life as well as my art, is the desire to make the temporary permanent. I’m always worried I’ll forget a certain experience or moment, and I struggle with the fear of that loss. If I find something beautiful, I want to immortalize it for others to see, if not for my own inspiration. I have a camera of some sort on my person at all times so as not to miss these opportunities. There is so very much to learn from looking at the world around me; and nothing provides a better education than nature.

One of my goals is to show others (students) the beauty of natural forms, the power of line, pattern and detail, and the minute details therein that make up the whole. I would also like my students to pay attention to the materials they are working with and to recognize that every experience is an opportunity to learn. In reality, nothing in life is forever. Art is a way to create a sense of permanence and to preserve the beauty of the seemingly inconsequential moments of everyday existence.