Gallery - 2014

2014 was my introduction to the art world. It was my sophomore year of high school, and with the exception of a few very amateur attempts over the years, I was nowhere close to calling myself a painter. The high school I attended, which I'll call "MB" for now, was an amazing place where education was driven not by books and classes, but by internships and projects. I began interning with a great organization called ZAPP & an amazing local painter named Ryan Henry Ward. ZAPP nurtured me to explore my creative potential and on a very cold December night, I put my first ever zine, Massacre, up for sale at left Bank books by Pike Place Market. On a similarly cold winter night months later my amazing mentor, Ryan Henry Ward, pushed me to begin my first ever acrylic painting: Slothoala. It started as being a painting of a sketch I did of a woman with a snake coming out of her eye, but after Henry commented "It looks like a Koala or a sloth" (I'm not sure if he said one or the other), I just went with it & made a Slothoala. It's been almost 3 years since I started that painting, and I honestly can't say that I ever felt it was finished. I've done probably dozens (or maybe even hundreds ;D ) of paintings ever since that first one, so I think me never really finishing it is fine.