Artist Statement

“Growing up, I was always the creative one, the artistic one. Creativity just came naturally to me and I got used to being good. In my small town, my graduating class 12 students, usually “the best” at it.

When I stated taking art classes at UAA, I began fading into the crowd. I was no longer “special” far from “the best”. It was no longer easy to stand out, I was being challenged. Honesty, I didn’t like it.

Then when life changed, as it does, my forward artistic momentum was gradually stifled.It was easier to not push myself, to not create. I listed many reasons why it happened but none are really GOOD reasons.

I got into a rut of judging other artists, saying “I could do that”. Then a switched flipped, if “I could do that”, why didn’t I?

I began to paint again, prolifically, everything I could think of and realized that it was hard. I couldn’t “do that”. “I can do that” became “How do they do that??”. That thing that came so natural and easy needed to be developed and honed. If I really wanted to do this, I needed to grow and change, develop new techniques and seek out mentors and influences. Make things that I love and if I don’t love it, try and try again. Work hard and realize that it will not come easy.

This is my artistic story and these paintings are part of it. These are pieces that I didn’t paint for anyone. I didn’t paint them for the purpose of selling them (although they are for sale). I painted them for me, as part of my artistic growth and now I’m sharing them with all of you.”

Artist Bio

I am a local Kasilof based artist, currently working mostly in acrylic medium. I also love creative cooking, baking, cake art, photography, sculpture, fabrication and being a mommy to my sweet baby boy who challenges me daily, inspires me to create and gives me reason to follow my dreams.