In high school, being your typical right-brained creative type, it only took three weeks before I was hopelessly confused in Geometry class. Despite of my lack of math skills, somehow I’ve found a personal style that many people relate to geometry and fractals. I think, at the most basic level, a connection to pattern, shape and symmetry is hard-wired into our collective consciousness. I love intricate shapes, repeating patters, and bright, vivid colors. Although I had never heard of mandalas until a college professor introduced me to them, after reading up and studying them, I felt like I had officially connected to an influence that until then had been nameless. I can spend hours studying the interplay of color and pattern within the viewfinder of a kaleidoscope, the pattern of petals on a flower, or a swirl of clouds in the sky.

Drawing and painting to me is like a form on meditation. When I’m deeply engrossed in a piece the world falls away, and none of life’s problems matter. Hours pass in the blink of an eye. I want my work to have the same effect on the viewer, and for people to find themselves “lost” in it, if even only for a few minutes.

I’m slightly obsessed with Alice in Wonderland, museums, micron pens, philosophy, tattoos, bookstores, being barefoot, sushi, the inter-web, forests, cooking, eating, interesting conversation, mandalas, animals, astronomy, stained glass, chai tea, ancient history, fractals, owls, frozen desserts, color theory, surrealism, old maps, Futurama, cult films, Mexican food, good beer, dark chocolate, clouds, stars, play-doh, theories, anything electric blue, kaleidoscopes, aimless wanderings, general weirdness, the sky, travel, oceans, mountains, comfy pants, and stealing my boyfriend’s hoodies.

From the swirls on VanGough’s Starry Night to the tight geometric patterns of MC Escher, I draw from a wide circle on influences. I deeply admire the dreamy surrealist painter Remedios Varo, and the transformative and spiritual work of Alex Gray. I believe that art should bridge the gap between the everyday world and a “higher” place. It should draw us in, full us with life, and revitalize us. Art should create energy. Art should have life.