My work and process of working is largely influenced by my personal principles. I hold truth, sincerity, and growth in the highest regard. The visual and sensory world around us is influential to all who experience it, so as a creator of such work, I feel that it is important to use the platform I have been given to the best of my ability. There are two ways in which this platform is used: creation for others and creation for myself. In my creation for others, I believe that a relationship of trust and clear communication is imperative. Presenting art of any sort to the world automatically makes you vulnerable, and when you create work for someone else, it brings them into that vulnerability. There is a great responsibility in this type of work to depict the person or people you represent in a way they can be proud of. In my creation for myself, I seek to make work that brings a sense of wholeness to me and challenges me to grow. This work is not constricted to graphic design or traditional forms of art, but can be anything from making pottery, to reading, to looking at photographs.

 

My exhibition is a combination of creation for others and creation for myself. This work is for others in that I am one small part of one large exhibition. I am one piece to the puzzle that made this whole thing happen, but I am not the whole puzzle; I represent the other artists in this exhibition, and I also represent myself. My installation is titled: “From Dust to Dust.” This is a concept taken from the fall of man in Genesis 3 in The Bible. The story says that, in hopes of becoming like God, the first man and woman ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a tree they were forbidden to eat from. God rebuked the man Adam, declaring his mortality, saying, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread ‘til you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19). This installation explores the theme of fragility and briefness of man’s experience on Earth. From dust you are and to dust you will return; what happens in between is up to you… and it matters. I hope to draw attention to this concept and encourage people to pursue truth, sincerity, and growth in the short lives they are blessed to live. Like unfired clay vessels, our time on this earth is not guaranteed. I have wanted to explore and present this topic for a very long time, and I am using the platform I have been

given to create and show work that fills my dusty days with light. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.