Bio:

A descendant of a long line of blue-collar mountain folk, I never imagined a higher education in fine arts was possible for myself despite developing an unyielding love for drawing at an early age. After several years of dead-end job hopping after high school, it wasn’t until an informal Autism and ADHD diagnosis gave me some much needed personal insight on how to proceed towards a future in the arts. At the age of 25, I embarked on my journey through higher education, graduating from Greenville Technical College in 2021 and transferring to Clemson University to finish my BFA in 2023. When I’m not cultivating my studio practice or prying a slipper out of my dog’s mouth, I’m engaging in the world of fine arts through a variety of roles involving gallery, studio, and instructional assistance in my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. 

Statement:

My artwork is informed by the environment of the Appalachian foothills in which I was raised. I’m drawn towards textured, naturalistic forms such as earth, foliage, natural decay as well as crumbling, man-made infrastructure that lines the landscape of the region. I explore narratives of overgrowth, human intervention, and the transience of my surroundings using a variety of mixed-media processes. My practice serves as a form of mental and visual restitution to make visible the impermanence of time and place, to honor and record the past, or to remediate internal conflict.