Works

This section highlights a few of my works throughout my college career showing my transformation and interests as a developing artist.

Stained

Stained , November 2024, Digital Photography and Lightroom , Printed Gallery Version is 16”x20”

Accepted into the SELU Spring 2025 Student Exhibition

For this image I was tasked with capturing an emotion through a single photo , my mind immediately went to the realms of film and theater. Using their ability to use makeup, setting, color, and lighting to evoke an emotion within the audience. I began writing about the emotion I wanted to capture, which was complex sadness , not something direct but a feeling or state that we can all relate to. A sense of euphoric mania when you’ve cried so long that you just feel lightheaded and heavy, stained by the event, the emotion, or even the literal makeup that is left. I allowed myself to indulge in those memories for just a moment. I put makeup on haphazardly and smeared it with my hands, posing multiple times and changing lighting and distance. After going through proofs and editing I landed on this as the final photo. It is an experiment as much as it was an expression.

Roots

Roots ,January-April 2024, Digital Photography and Lightroom

Manchac Louisiana, Turtle Cove and Surrounding Areas

Roots is a series of about thirty images that were taken while attending an Art and the Environment class at SELU. They were taken with a digital camera and edited to look granny and black and white, the series is an attempt to highlight the state in which I root myself. The images focus on various flora and fauna, landscapes, lifestyles, and architecture of the area. Reflecting the title of the work and the underlying issues of land loss, poverty, and disaster within the state. The choice to have the images be black and white is to not only communicate the documentary nature of the work but also to evoke a mixed feeling of beauty and sadness.

This is only six of thirty

Skalli Drepsott

Skalli Drepsott , March 2023, Mixed Media Sculpture , Diameter 10” Height 24”

This sculpture was an experiment with creating a narrative that could be easily communicated in a three dimensional format. The reliquary is built of repurposed wood and glass, as well as polymer clay , plastic, a fish tank light , and paint. The symbols engraved into the wood and skull are various norse runes that protect the viewers from the curse that seems to be attached to this artifact. There are various beetles and larvae that crawl around the outside waiting for the glass to break. The skull is a universal icon for danger and this is reinforced by the red lighting and unsettling insects that encase the icon as well.

Color Studies (2023)

Color Studies ( 2023) , October 2023, Oil Paint and Canvas Paper, Various Sizes

Smaller 6”x9” largest 9x12

This study was one of my first attempts at using the technique of chiaroscuro in painting. I was referencing artists such as Carivaggio and Henrik Uldalen to work with local color, tone, and contrast. I learned through this experiment the ability to dry brush black on color to create tones , much like you would with drawing. This allowed me to paint things in the background and hide them and create smooth transitions. The roses is a center piece to the study because it uses the dramatic nature of the style along with iconography and color to create a scene that allows the viewers to determine the meaning. Is the artist madly in love or mourning a loss? How does the style of chiaroscuro communicate that and how do you push it to learn more one way or the other?

Red

Oil on canvas, 6”x9”, 2023
Orange

Oil on canvas, 6”x9”, 2023
Rose Study (Color Combination)

Oil on canvas, 9”x12”, 2023
Green

Oil on canvas, 6”x9”, 2023
New List Item

Oil on canvas, 6”x9”, 2023
Full Color Studies

set of 5 , oil on canvas, 6”×9”

Semi-Surreal

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Semi-Surreal *

Semi-Surreal , January -May 2024, Oil paint on canvas, Various sizes
Was a part of the Interview Process for Faculty at SELU in May 2024 and two out of the four pieces made it into the SELU Student Show Spring 2024

The body of work Semi-Surreal was an exploration of depicting intense emotions and memories of various trauma or the responses to these traumas. The paintings consisted of images that were collaged together by hand first then scaled and drawn to size to fit the various canvases. The difference in size is for them to serve as oversized wall decor that you may find on someone's stairs full of family photos. It allows the viewer to bounce around the various narratives that all connect in some fashion. For example the use of white dresses symbolizes youth and innocence, while the counteracting symbols of claws and pills show how these various forces can take or manipulate that purity. Open doors and open stages depict the uncertainty that deep trauma can leave on a person in a daily life. These complications can cause issues with dissociation and PTSD that leaves the bearer feeling as if they are in a dreamlike state for long periods of time. These paintings depict those feelings and serve as a personal exploration into my own life.

Windowless Women , Oil on Canvas, _x_, February 2024, Accepted to 2025 SELU Spring Exhibition

Gnawing, Oil on Masonite, _x_, February 2024, Accepted into 2025 SELU Spring Exhibition

Masked Encounters, Oil on Canvas, _X_, April 2024

Center Stage , Oil on Canvas, _x_, April 2024

Setup for SELU Faculty Interviews May 2024

“Venus”

Venus , November 2023, Screen Print, 11”x14”

Was accepted into the SELU Print Flat File and SELU Spring 2024 Student Exhibition

This screen print was made in correlation to the paintings I was doing at the time. I was thinking a lot about mental health in general as well as in my own life. I was having a hard time delving into feelings of the past to talk about them through my work , although there was a sense of relief there it was almost a constant trigger while working through them. This caused me to feel trapped at times because the medium I had loved so much had become somewhat toxic for the moment. I wanted to represent this feeling in another way so I decided that the bold use of a screen print would be the most fitting. The typography is written backwards and haphazardly to reinforce the feeling of the tables turning and feeling out of control. The plants on the woman's face are not only a literal reflection of the subject , but also serve as an indirect self portrait.

Disconnected

Disconnected, April 2024 , Intaglio Print , 11” x 14”

Was accepted into and won best in show for printmaking for the SELU Spring 2025 Student Exhibition.

This print is a visual representation that I feel depicts the overall hold that media has over our everyday lives. I feel we allow our devices to think for us and online content creators to influence many of our decisions. So I replaced the T.V. with the natural head spot to reflect this control over our thinking, while using myself for the head in question since I am calling it out. The setting and position of the character is a hint to the singer and songwriter Pink Floyd's song comfortably numb, which I feel gives context to the current relationship we have with the media. The use of intaglio allows for repetition and fine details giving the work depth, and power in numbers.

Lift The Needle!

Lift the Needle !! , October 2023, Posters made with Adobe and Xerox scanner, Gallery Prints 16”x20”

Was accepted into the SELU Spring 2025 Student Exhibition

This series of posters works together to communicate a state of unease within the political system, it urges viewers to question everything they see and hear from the media and other sources. The quote “Lift the Needle!” refers to the needle of a record player that when left to long beings to skip, scratch, and repeat much like history itself. Lifting the needle is a call to action to speak up in order to keep the cycle from repeating. The posters are made to mimic old vietnam punk peace propaganda posters , by using drawn and printed elements torn and meshed together in a scanner to layer over digital edits such as text and gradients. This context allows for viewers to interpret the work before fully diving in.

LIFT THE NEEDLE!!

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LIFT THE NEEDLE!! ⋆

Angie.

Angie , December 2025, Hand drawn zine edited and printed with adobe, 6”x10”

Was accepted into the SELU Spring 2025 Student Exhibition

The intention behind Angie was to personify the feelings of anger, anxiety, or addiction through a narration of a poem accompanied by hand drawn illustrations. The poem is direct but vague allowing any reader to put themselves in the place of the opposite end of Angie's conversation. The zine is done entirely in black and white enforcing how those overwhelming feelings can often cause one to think in those terms, the use of hand drawn images gives the book movement and emotion through mark making. The poem is all original and I used InDesign to place the text around the images in a way that was somewhat uneasy but still understandable. The intention is for the viewer to find comfort that there are others out there who have these same feelings and remind them of their power no matter how scary the voice may seem.

Nature Studies 2024

Nature Studies, January -December 2024 , Digital Photographs

This collection of photos is composed of around 25 photographs that highlight the beauty of the natural world. Much of my work often focuses on identity, emotions, and experience while this series is more of a glimpse into my escape from these things. I find that nature is comforting since I see much of myself in it. From the simple comparison to the veins in our hands to veins in leaves, to the idea that our emotions and experiences are like seasons. They change and cycle through and with them depending on how you react to them can either cause comfort or havoc. I find this series comforting and for that reason I see it as an important piece since it talks about my same ideology from a more positive and grounding perspective.