I have always loved art, for as long as I can remember.  I view art as a type of language.  Often a well-prepared artwork can say so much more than words, regardless of when it was created. When people view my art, I want to elicit some type of emotion.  Art that draws out emotions is art that is memorable.  I have always been drawn to the controversial. As an artist, I feel I have a responsibility to bring awareness to the issues that most tend to shy away from.  The world isn’t always a pretty place, sometimes it’s downright dark. Art as a form of activism is a concept that has always intrigued me and that is the kind of artist I strive to be.  As an artist, I work with all types of media, but my favorite media is photography and 3-D design and I love to think of creative ways to combine the two.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then art combined with photography can tell an entire story.

As an art educator, I want to encourage my students to use their creative voice, to bring awareness to issues prevalent today. I also want my students to have a well-rounded art education.  I want to build my curriculum on a strong foundation of art history. I want my students to leave my class knowing not just techniques and principles, but also who created those techniques and principles. I feel that to understand a piece of art, one must first know the story of the artist who created it. Only in knowing the history and context in which art is created, can one fully grasp its meaning. In my opinion, knowing art history is fundamental in teaching art.  As an art educator, I want to do more than simply teach my students art, I want my students to know the history behind the artworks that have influenced so many. I want to show my students that art is the universal language that transcends time, gender, culture, and boundaries, and if done correctly, art can be used to make some powerful statements.