MY STORY

I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 22, 1998. I was a very shy and awkward kid growing up, but I like to think that the shy part has dissipated by now. That comes in large part from my teammates and friends that I made through playing soccer. Though I never considered myself to be the best player on the field, they always made me feel like I was. This increased my confidence throughout the years, whether I was aware of it or not. In school I always had good grades, partly because both my parents are teachers, and partly because I secretly enjoyed the gratification it gave me. Art was always my favorite class though, specifically ceramics. I loved taking the given assignment, pushing it to the absolute limit and trying to come up with the most outside-of-the-box idea for each project. This approach ended up winning me the ‘most artistic’ award at our senior graduation. After high school I was set to go off to Pennsylvania to play soccer in college, I was going to major in pharmacy and thought that doing art would be a thing of the past.
My parents ended up convincing me to attend Benedictine University in Arizona and play soccer there, a school that was quite honestly the complete opposite of what I was looking for. In an act of vengeance, I decided I would major in fine art, and it backfired in the best way. In college I was exposed to new people and for the first time I recognized just how fortunate I was for the life I’ve lived. I was also able to learn a variety of techniques and was introduced to several different mediums, which is prevalent in many of my pieces. Using anything from oil paint to colored paper to wood or wire and even stop motion, I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to create new ways to get my message across. My sophomore year I was lucky enough to have my first show at the Mesa Music Festival. This opportunity allowed me to show my work to people outside of my living room for the first time and was when I realized that art is something that I want to do forever. All of those hours of siting in the same spot through the whole night and into the next day felt like they were finally paying off.