Summer 2018 Florence, Italy Beginners Fresco Painting and Advanced Drawing
Mural Painting
Summer 2017 Hamilton, OH "The Delicate Balance of Progress"
2D Work
3D Work
Photo Series
Freshman Year 2016 Proposal: Change The theme I chose is growth. This has been a recurring theme in my life throughout everything I do and that is why it is significant to me. I was interested in this theme because I think that as people, we really don't like struggles in life. But, usually, that is how we grow and change as individuals. This theme can be relevant to others because it can show them the beauty in change and why we should embrace it. Limitations: Three limitations I gave myself to guide the construction of my images included utilizing photography, focusing on human/animal life and nature as well as giving insight into to my personal life.
Hungry for Life The family I babysat for this weekend recently rescued two kittens. Once the kids went to bed, I had to bottle feed the two kittens their milk. As I was doing so, I realized how the milk is vital to the kittens' growth. Although it's mostly physical, change couldn't happen for this animal without the milk. This specific kitten was very resistant and kept knocking the bottle out of my hand. But, once she got situated, she couldn't stop drinking it. I think a lot of the time people are like this kitten. We usually don't want what we need. But after we do so, we feel much better. Maybe even a little less hungry, like this kitten.
Homecoming My underclassmen friends had their junior homecoming this weekend. I went to see them for their pictures. They were so excited and looked so gorgeous! But, since graduating, I think it's so funny how much high school dances don't matter anymore. My friends are growing up and not even thinking about how they will be graduating soon. I've known them since they were tiny freshmen, and it was crazy to see how much mature and wonderful they've become in two short years. This weekend reminded me of when I was in high school and how much fun it was. I didn't realize how much I was growing then, just like they don't right now. It's crazy to think about where they will go when the graduate and everything they are yet to become. Watching them grow up has been such a gift and there's a deep beauty in enjoying each season of life, including awkward high school years.
Fall in Ox As the leaves begin to change in Oxford, I think about how it's necessary for things to die in order to grow back. Soon, all the leaves will change colors and fall off the trees. Everyone loves seeing all the different colors and hearing the crunch of leaves when we walk over them. This is kind of ironic because they're dead and leave the trees completely bare. But, if this didn't happen new leaves wouldn't be able to grow. Humans are similar in the way they need certain seasons of life to end in order to enter new ones. The first month of college has been extremely rough. But, if high school never ended I wouldn't have evolved as a person. It's funny how random things like that come together to relate to one another.
CHI TOWN This weekend my friends and I spontaneously decided to go to Chicago for the day. It was very busy. It was definitely one of the most adventurous things I've ever done without a parent. Being 18 and technically a real adult has been full of responsibilities. But, this weekend was one of the first real fun things I've done with the advantage of being 18. I casually told my parents and they couldn't say no to me going. It was so much fun and we did everything by ourselves including walking around, getting pizza and looking around stores. Doing this reminded me of how much I wasn't able to do last year. I've grown a lot since then. Although growing up can be stressful, it also has benefits. I'm seeing the good in growing up, which is encouraging, as this was hard the first couple months of college.
Kern Down for What This weekend I got the privilege of being work crew for a Young Life fall weekend at Camp Kern. I've been sick the past week, so I wasn't really looking forward to volunteering this weekend. However, I got to work and spend time with other freshmen, from Miami, that were also on work crew. We had a free hour on Saturday where we went and explored in the woods. We found this beautiful open field and ran around in it laughing. We all felt like little kids for a minute. I think we all really needed that. We felt like adults this weekend working the camp. Not being the campers anymore made us kind of sad. It was funny to see how much we really have grown since being little, and how much we've learned. Overall, this weekend was so life giving. I came back being reminded that things aren't about me. As a kid, I never thought that. I'm glad to see how far I've come along in life.
Lexi at Miami The past weekend my 15 year old sister came to visit me in Oxford. She spent the night in my dorm and the next morning we got breakfast at Starbucks and ate it in the art building. I showed her around where I spend all of my time. It was a really needed day of just catching up on life. In March, she will be turning 16 and getting her license. She's been super excited about getting to drive with her temps. It's insane to think that she will be thinking about college in just about a year and a half. It was cool to see her interested in my work and what I've been up to. My sister and I have always been close, and being away at college has been hard on our relationship. But, this day was a reminder of how we can just have fun together, like we did when we were little. Although it's ironic that I was telling her all about my college courses, we got to be freed from assignments and expectations for a few hours. It didn't seem real that I was showing her around my dream college. Soon enough, we were brought back to reality that we're growing up and getting kind of old. It's bittersweet.