Statement
I have a certain desire for the skies to rip open, for heaven to come down in a violent torrent of glory, and to be picked out of the dust of the earth and encounter the living God face to face. In the meantime, I’m here making art.
I work with a variety of mediums to convey my fascination with the mingling of light, color, and sound. I currently work with resin and paint to create abstract word paintings that juxtapose layered transparent color and the opacity of language that is a part of esoteric evangelical Christian culture. All of my work is roughly about the same thing; it’s all a visual representation of the way I feel in the presence of the Holy Spirit and the theology I obsessively study to define these ephemeral experiences.
In making my work, I’ve found that layering is more important than the legibility or coherence of the representation. I repeatedly layer video footage or pour abstract smears on top of smears of pigment on top of letters. I do this because my experience of God has never been without the mystery and wonder of pulling apart layers upon layers of revelation and understanding. It feels like a mess of colors, marks, and words, and even though pulling back the layers of this mess is partially cathartic, as it all starts to make more sense, I can’t help but to re-stack the layers and revel in mystery: that I don’t understand anything about art, or life, or God, and yet I keep making things, and I keep waking up every morning, and I keep tugging on the heartstrings of God, trying to pull down heaven. It feels complicated and strange, but it’s so beautiful that I don’t think I can stop. That’s what I want my art to feel like too.
CV
EDUCATION
2016 BFA in Studio Art, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 Gallimaufry (A Confused Mixture), Cal Poly University Art Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
2016 Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Cal Poly University Art Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
2015 Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Cal Poly University Art Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
2012 VUSD Annual Student Exhibition, Jon Ginsburg Gallery, Visalia, CA
AWARDS AND HONORS
2016 Cal Poly Arts and College of Liberal Arts Award for Excellence in Original Work, California Polytechnic State University
2014 John Joseph Jones III Memorial Art Scholarship, California Polytechnic State University
2012 Evelyn M. Alexander Memorial Art Scholarship, Visalia Unified School District
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Best of Photography, Photographer's Forum, 2014
Best of Highschool & College Photography, Photographer's Forum, 2012