Term: Juni-Juli 2019
Stipendiary of the NYAA
The work I make is driven by the constant uncertainty of my idea of a physical and psychological home. I find myself in a habitual state of pursuit to unravel these questions, finding solace in the people that I meet and objects I collect along the way. Self-portraiture has become a big part of my work as another means of examination of this travel. Being somewhat of a nomad since the waking days of my life, I have found a powerful connection to plant life; which has been one of the only positive constants. Nature has become an extremely important part of my life and has impacted the way I navigate the internal turmoil and constant questioning of my personal origin stories and where I stand today in it all, due to the lack of consistency and structure of my upbringing.
For the past eight years, art has become an essential language to try and communicate this apprehension, isolation, and sheer celebration of feeling lost at certain times in my life that I know millions of people struggle with as well. I strive, through the different uses of mediums such as drawing, painting and several printmaking techniques, to convey my internal and external world in as raw and honest of a format as I am capable of, celebrating the transparency, serendipity, honesty and vulnerability each medium present.
I try to achieve a healthy balance between working from life, memory and photography in my studio practice, there is something very beautiful and particular about these three tools and particular visual experiences, and the combination of all three I have found to be the most successful to help construct a personal visual language to develop my ideas as efficiently as possible. Printmaking has become a very important part of my life; it is the closest I have come to finding a medium that allows a thought or question to be developed at just the right speed. Woodcuts are incredibly upfront, what you do is what you get. There is something incredibly empowering about the commitment you need to embrace your marks; every cut too deep, stipple, nick, lifting of the grain, it all shows.
Education
2018-2020 Master of Fine Arts Drawing. New York Academy of Art
2015 Bachelor of Fine Arts Printmaking, University of Central Florida
Exhibitions
2018 Hello Bushwick, 1089 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, NY, Dec
2018 IPCNY Printfest, 508 W 26th St, New York, NY, Oct
2017 Hoopsnake Press, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, Nov
2017 Hoopsnake Press Group Exhibition, W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Center Gallery. Fulton, MS. Jan.
2017 Hoopsnake Press Group Exhibition, Wesleyan West Gallery. Macon, GA. Nov
2016 Where Identities Meet, The Gumtree Museum of Art. Tupelo, MS. Aug
2015 Tupelo Arts Showcase, Link Centre. Tupelo, MS
2015 One Last Hoop, Univ. of Central Florida Gallery, Orlando, FL
2014 En búsqueda de Lilliath, AREA, Caguas, Puerto Rico, September
Awards
2018 Nicolas V. Sanchez Scholarship Programme, 2018
2019-2020 New York Academy of Art Scholarship, MFA 2019-2020, Hoopsnake Press. Tupelo, MI
2016-Current, Associate Artist
