I am fascinated by people, relationships, community, the power of the mind, the uniqueness of the human character, what drives people, where they are from, where they are going. The human experience is a complicated one and the complexity of it all inevitably leaves me pondering. What is it that allows each of us to function? Why do people insist on repeatedly putting themselves through awkward situations? What is it that actually makes these situations awkward and so on. In my work, I am ultimately trying to resolve these ponderings.

For me the act of drawing, painting, and creating in general is a therapeutic one. I am always seduced by the very process and the execution of making art. My best days, and my best work evolve from the act of making marks. I tend to get wrapped up in the whole affair. Truthfully, I do not always know specifically why I create the images that I do. Often times, I do not understand exactly where they come from until I have finished the work and stepped away from it, both physically and mentally. This is due, in part, to the way that I go about making art.

I work largely in one of two media: traditional and digital printmaking, and stenciling via aerosol or spray acrylic. My creative process almost always begins from working out of a sketchbook. The act of drawing is important to me both as an exercise and a way of developing ideas. I tend to craft images in an organic fashion that has much to do with the act of freely drawing. In printmaking, recently I have worked almost exclusively in Intaglio methods on copper plate, utilizing hard ground etching in combination with aquatint and sugar lift. I use a combination of Gamblin Portland Black and Gamblin Bone Black and favor printing on Reeves BFK. In regard to working on very small intaglio plates, plates that fall into the range of 1-2 inches in any dimension, I will tape the plate to a handle fashioned from a wooden dowel, cut to about 3 inches in length, to assist in the inking and wiping process.

When making stencil art, I use a variety of media to serve as the matrix of the stencil. I have experimented with various nit patterns, vinyl, upholstery, plastic sheets, liquid and sheet friscate, tapes, screens and papers. In general, I tend to favor using a large celled screen. I handmake frames and stretch an eight square per inch metal screen, the type you would find at a hardware store, across them. I use a watered down glue mixture and a flat brush to block out the necessary parts of the screen. This method is favorable to me because it allows you the freedom to leave islands in the screen and is an inexpensive way to work on a large scale. This method of blocking out the screen also favors working in a reductive manner, whether making a monoprint or an edition. I stick to using Krylon pain, due to its cost, light fastness, and availability.

Education
BFA, Printmaking, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas USA[anticipated 2007]
BA, Communication Design, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas USA [anticipated 2007]

2006
All-Student Juried Exhibition, Gallery I, San Marcos, TX, USA