Artist Statement

As I am both an artist and an author, the primary function of my work is to tell a story and to engage viewers in that narrative. Through a variety of mediums, including digital illustration, sculpture, and book arts, my work explores the individual, the natural, and the complex relationship between the two. My sources of influence stem primarily from the sights, sounds, and smells of hiking trails, seaside hamlets, and rural towns, resulting in a body of work that is as diverse in color, texture, and form as the natural world itself.
Ever since I was a child, I have always been fascinated by nature and the world around me. I have always loved visiting state parks, trailheads, nature preserves, and even small towns to see places where humans have, in a sense, learned to live in harmony with nature; areas such as these, where the two can exist together, without man overstepping his boundaries and encroaching too much on the domain of nature, have always brought me a great sense of joy and peace. The sights of natural landscapes and animal habitats being destroyed to bring about housing developments, commercial centers, or roadways, on the other hand, have brought me nothing but remorse. While I recognize the need to grow and expand to meet the needing of our burgeoning population, I still mourn the instances of beauty that have been destroyed through human expansionism; through my art, I seek to preserve the natural areas I have witnessed in the world around me, lest they someday be destroyed, and to speak to their overall beauty and majesty. At times, I deal with the idea of individual as well; in this realm, I mainly utilize the theme of nature and imagery of the natural world in order to make art as a cathartic and therapeutic endeavor for coping with my own life and experiences.
My artwork frequently incorporates imagery drawn from nature and recycled and/or found materials; common images include leaves and flowers, rock and crystal formations, and naturally occurring patterns. I tend to work in low-waste, reusable, or digital mediums, such as computer-aided designs or paper goods, so that my work not only captures the essences and beauty of nature, but does not contribute to its destruction either. I usually do not rely upon particular places in my work, but in recent years, I have been utilizing specific characters; these characters do not always appear “in the flesh,” so to speak, but are sometimes represented by certain symbols and colors throughout a piece. Through use of these characters, or their corresponding representational motifs, and consistent natural imagery, I am able to build and tell a more definite story about mankind, nature, and their relationship.