Short Answer: Soon… I hope!

Long Answer: I have a new studio in the works, with the potential for a broader audience, but a lot of steps stand between me and the reality of it housing lessons. If/when I do, I plan to limit the lessons to 1 on 1 and emphasize upcycling and repurposing to both cut costs and encourage sustainability.

Short Answer: (Edited) It’s there, just empty. Along with every other social media platform.

Long Answer: I’ve had a very back and forth and back and forth (and back) perception of social media. Currently, I have decided to have all of the platforms available registered and branded. In that way I have access to viewing other creators’ inspiring work, but I do not post any content to the platforms. My goal is to instead use them to redirect genuine interest to this website, where I can be far more controlled and organized. Here, I don’t have to worry about algorithms or detracting advertisements—I can just share my work and thoughts. Besides, I don’t need the validation of complete strangers to feel great about my work. Instead, I can personally hand them a business card that leads them to this gallery of output. If those real connections are the only ones viewing my work, subscribing to my intermittent newsletter, and contacting me at all, I’m more than alright with that. One real friend is worth more than a million arbitrary likes.

Short Answer: Yep!

Long Answer: I also enjoy music, games, reading and writing. I will confidently say I am best known game-wise for playing Bananagrams (I have all 18 versions, the tote bag, hat, shirt, and pins), but I dabble in a number of games including Minecraft. I do quite a bit of writing for this website, but also personally. I haven’t met a lot of people who enjoy writing essays, but I’m one of them. Which has proven to be a blessing in college.

Short Answer: It depends... do I like you?

Long Answer: Because I believe art is best made without the incentive of money: if I don’t want to make it, I don’t. Therefore I tend to only complete commissions for friends, family, and people I’ve met in person. Mainly so that I can hand-deliver the items and see their excited reactions firsthand. Honestly the most rewarding part of any project is that reaction, and if I don’t have it at the end, most projects simply aren’t worth it.

Short Answer: The art BY FAR

Long Answer: I believe through my art I can bring joy to the lives of others, and impact them in a bigger way than I ever could imagine. I am SO MUCH more excited about the art than any glory attached. There is the small problem of: If people don’t know about you, how will you share your message? So I do need to gain that platform to share my message. But as long as I create beyond physical things, and I can impact emotions, then my goal is accomplished.

Short Answer: Whatever I’m in the mood to make.

Long Answer: I aim to design either a meaningful decoration or a practical product each time I create. I am often irked by purposeless art, however I understand art is sometimes more about the process than the result. Crayons, for example. I love ‘em, but I use them for fun, not for finesse.

Short Answer: Cardboard, mostly.

Long Answer: I make most of my projects out of on-hand repurposed materials (becuase I'm cheap). Most commonly: cardboard and paperboard (and yes, I absolutely raid Aldi’s occasionally for their boxes). To stick it all together I use copious amounts of hot glue after painting parts with Apple Barrel acrylics (Y’know, the fifty cent tubes from Walmart- that are now fifty eight cents). I'm excited to experiment with combining cardboard and new mediums during my experience in Indiana Wesleyan University's art department.

Short Answer: To bring joy.

Long Answer: Art is a process to be enjoyed by the artists, and the results are to be enjoyed by others. Rather than make a rigorous career out of art, I choose to make what I enjoy making, when I want to make it, for whomever I want to make it. The goal beyond myself though, is to share my love of art and healthy creativity so as to inspire others of things greater than my own imagination.

Short Answer: Remain an Avid Communicator and Cardboard Enthusiast.

Long Answer: While my career plans and goals are constantly fluxuating, my general concensus on my future tends to involve art, music, active living, and communications in some form. Whether I sing, play the cello, or just listen to music; whether I sell art, teach lessons, or just do it on the sife; whether I play a sport, learn martial arts, or just do home calisthenics; and whether I become and executive, HR, or assistant, all of these aspects I hope to keep up by ever-changing means.