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I discovered a personal gravitation toward art at a very early age. I constantly drew anthropomorphic hearts as a child, and would fall into hours of entertainment when my mom would make play-doh for my younger sister and I. My family and I lived in Japan when I was a kid from 2001-2004, which naturally lead to a love of Japanese culture and art style. When I was in school, I always had to make the best posters and visual aids, and I was the kid that was constantly drawing during classes. I started entering my art into competitions when I was about twelve years old, and have been regularly doing paid commissioned work since I was about fifteen. I always had an affinity toward fantasy, figures, adventurous landscapes, and saturated colors. I am fascinated by expressionism, surrealism, escapism, and evolution. 

I graduated from Western Illinois University in May 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. My degree emphasis is in ceramics; however, I consider myself a multi-media artist with ever-changing interests. In fact, I take on so many mediums and subjects that my art instructors had always attempted to focus me, to no avail. I still wrestle this in my work today - what subject am I most passionate about? Which mediums do I want to hone the most, to become a master instead of a jack-of-all? My work history and sporadic hobbies reflect this as well: I’ve made stage props and worked set design for theatre; I was a cake decorator for two years; I was a fine art framing manager for two years; I’ve been an art class instructor for a handful of programs; I’ve had booths at various art fairs. I also dabbled in jewelry smithing for two years, picked up macrame during the pandemic, and am interested in possibly narrating audiobooks for Audible in the future.

Since the pandemic hit, I have built up a personal ceramics studio at home that I have begun work in as of September 2022. Currently, I am evolving and refining my style in clay and am coming up with a new body of ceramics work in which I incorporate drawing and painterly techniques. Once I am confident I have enough new work, I will be reaching out to more shows and shops again for representation.

Everyday me:

I currently live and work in Peoria, Illinois. I work as a baker and prep chef at a fine dining restaurant - I make all the breads, pasta, and desserts from scratch. The talented musician and chef Austin Smith is my long-time partner, who works at the restaurant with me. He fronts his rock-blues band, Cole Hollow, and makes solo music under the name Stoney Hollow, both of which can be found on any streaming platform. We have a petite black cat named Marcy and a sweet bunny, Morrison. Mexican food and Asian food are my first picks, and I love a good fantasy or sci-fi book.

Here is a link to my Spotify profile. I still build on the playlists every day:

 https://open.spotify.com/user/1279159055

[Last updated 9/28/2022]