“I used the newspaper collage technique with everyday stories from the paper to emphasize the idea of creating one’s own story. This piece shows a female figure looking out onto the journey ahead as represented by the other pieces in my exhibit. The string in the figure’s hand ties all the exhibit pieces together to show the coherent story created by all of these experiences. I based this work off of artist Bob Montana’s cartoon style artwork, using a simplistic color palette and different sized black lines to emphasize certain elements of the figure.”
Tangala House
Acrylic on Canvas, 12 x 18in, November 2018
“This piece is based off of one of my travels to Livingstone, Zambia. I took this picture during a sunset, a sight my mother said most people only see once in a lifetime. This painting reflects the simplicity of life discovered in a dynamic and changing world. Although the stillness and calmness of these moments are short-lived, they are worth the time to appreciate these small moments.”
Underneath the Kitchen Sink
Acrylic on Canvas, 12 x 16in, December 2018
“I created this piece to reflect my time living in Switzerland during a year abroad. This piece displays a Swiss mountain landscape underneath a kitchen sink. The simplicity of the kitchen environment emphasizes the hidden Swiss landscape to show how elements of our experiences and journeys create what we think of as home. This piece incorporates the elements of René Magritte’s surrealist work with the use of placing certain objects into places they would not necessarily fit.”
The Elements of Home
Mixed Media on Canvas, 16 x 22in, December 2019
“This incorporates elements of family, where I’ve traveled to, and the place I call home into one piece. I used a letter my grandmother wrote to me before she passed away as the wallpaper of the room. The Wadi Rum landscape in the background speaks to how home consists of the places and people we have met throughout our lifetime, and what we take away from these encounters. The use of collage is inspired by artist Cat Delett’s technique.”
Wadi Rum
Oil Pastel on Canvas, September 2018
“This piece is inspired by my visit to Wadi Rum, Jordan. This place had a strong impact on me because of the surreal Mars-like element in this real-life place. This piece focuses on finding the surrealism within real life as these surreal elements in the natural world are closer to us than we think, and represent our ability to go explore what the world has to offer. I experimented with oil pastels based off of Ivailo Nikolov’s technique.”
Beyond
Oil Pastel on Sandpaper, 32 x 17.5in, February 2020
“This piece is based off of a photograph I took of a little boy looking out onto an Israeli desert. The little boy represents childhood innocence, and the way exploring the parts of the world unknown to a person develops who they are. I used sandpaper to create an textured base underneath this oil pastel landscape.”
Pieced Together
Digital on Paper
January 2019, 11.7 x 16.5in
“My visit to a restaurant, Vandal, in New York City inspired this piece which signifies the end of a journey and returning from the outside world. The background sparks the imagination because, although the journey is over and the figure returns into the inside, the surreal and imaginative element from the journey still remains. The squares in the background create a dynamic element, and the different colored squares represent fragments from each part of the journey.”
But Where Did All the Time Go?
Mixed Media on Canvas, 18 x 22in, October 2019
“This piece incorporates a Canadian Rockies landscape and a road running through the middle of the piece with the words “But where did all the time go?” The road leads to the sky filled with stories from newspapers of everything going on in the world. This piece suggests that people become so caught up in everyday news and events that block people from experiencing and appreciating the natural world around us. So much of our time is occupied by these everyday events, which distracts people from the simplistic beauty of the natural world.”
