Artist Statement

I’ve belly-ached over an artist statement since college. I pretty much just stumbled my way through all of the artist statements I have ever had to make. I honestly find it very hard to describe what I do as an artist because I’m into a lot of things. I’m kind of a jack of all trades and a master of all (at least I try my hardest to be).

I’ll just describe what I like and I hope you can see it in my work. I mean, I think that’s what an artist statement is supposed to be anyway.

I’m a total movie and book nerd, I love post-apocalyptic and dystopian stories like Mad Max, Waterworld, The Hunger Games, the Divergent Series, Maze Runner, etc. And if its a creature feature I’m all about it. I went absolutely insane over James Cameron’s Avatar and I am so stoked for the next movies to come out. Jurassic Park is maybe my all time favorite movie series, it competes hard with Mad Max, though. If it’s got fantastical creatures in it I’ve probably seen it. The Harry Potter series and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are up there, too.

When James Cameron’s Avatar came out I seriously couldn’t believe people got to do that cool stuff like creature and character design for a living. I wanted to do creature designs and create a whole world, a whole narrative of unique characters and stories myself. I still want to do that. I hold out hope that a small town Hoosier girl can one day be a part of something as incredible as that. Whether it’s a video game, movie, or it’s a story that I’ve created on my own and I’m just making creatures and characters for fun.

I love the weird. I’m talking paranormal stuff, cryptid creatures, the whole nine yards. Yeah, I’m gonna pull the “I’m an artist so it’s not that weird” card. Bigfoot is real, end of story. With my paranormal interest I dive into some deeper subjects like life and death. It’s absolutely fascinating, terrifying, and yet somehow comforting.

Mexican culture and cowboy culture is a big part of my work. I ride horses and my husband is Mexican-Native American. I’m an adopted Mexican as I like to say, because Mexico feels like my second home now. The food, the bright colors, Day of the Dead, awesome music and dancing, plus their love of horses and rodeos. I fit right in! Horses are a huge part of my life, they are one of the first animals I learned how to draw. I really did tackle the hardest anatomy to learn first. I was the crazy horse girl in school, and let’s be honest, I am now, too.

Hold on tight here comes some real artist-y jargon like “juxtaposed”.

Even though my senior thesis was in college I still find that I’m thinking about my chosen theme a lot. It was about (here it comes) the juxtaposition of chaos and stability living together in our reality. I could get real deep on this but basically isn’t it fascinating that you can get on the interstate with hundreds of people, who are probably texting, and not get in a car wreck every single time? How is it that I can get on a nine hundred pound prey animal that’s scared of ducks and not be killed every single time? We’re always on the brink of chaos but somehow that tiny thread of stability keeps it from unraveling and ruining everything. Sometimes chaos does break through, and sometimes it doesn’t seem very random. Is this all just controlled chaos that we live in? Does everything happen for a reason? If so, how beautiful, scary, and divine that is.

Influence Map

This is an influence map I did for a Schoolism class. It helped me understand what drives my work. It also helped me realize that I need to be more intentional with the messages and stories in my work. I hope this is insightful for you as a viewer!