Statement

Since childhood, drawing has allowed me to respond to internal and external stimuli through its immediacy and accessibility, proving itself to be both the ultimate comfort and the ultimate challenge. Much of my work is informed by my upbringing in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains where organic and inorganic decay, infrastructure, landscape, and local wildlife are frequently used as means to explore conceptual avenues. Avenues such as rapid urbanization, socio-economic disparities, environmental concerns, and the underlying absurdities indicative of the region are unearthed during the cathartic state I experience while drawing. The subject matter I gravitate towards requires a certain level of patience and intimacy that reveling in meticulous, delicate, mark-making can provide. I explore my subject matter through direct observation, photographic references, digital collage, and memory recall. This constant feedback loop of visual information as it passes from physical perception, the mind’s eye, and to my drawing hand allows me to transform my source material into new visual amalgams. This process allows for the unseen, absurd, or otherwise limbo states within my drawings to be born through material resonance and multiple lenses of observation.

Bio

A descendant of a long line of blue-collar mountain folk, I became the first in my direct familial line to receive a degree in higher education, first from Greenville Technical College in 2021 with my Associate’s degree and then from Clemson University in 2023 with my Bachelors of Fine Arts. I’ve been drawing since the ripe old age of two, yet never imagined a career path in the arts was possible for myself as I grew older. After years of dead-end job hopping and uncertainty post-high school I made the decision to enroll myself in college at the age of twenty-five. Navigating higher education as a non-traditional, first generation college student has been an eye-opening and humbling experience. During my time throughout undergrad to now, I have had the privilege of engaging in the regional arts community through means of instructional roles, gallery assistantships, and workshop scholarships. When I’m not focusing on my drawing practice and experimenting with new mediums such as painting, printmaking, or ceramics, I’m usually pulling a slipper out of my dog’s mouth or listening to off-putting music. Usually both at the same time.