I feel like I should let you guys in on a little of what I do. I would consider myself an environmental activist in the form of art. No, I haven't been to Africa and protected a rhino's with my life, but I do create art that informs the viewer of the current problems that they may not know about. My goal is not to make art that the viewer has to think about a lot and make their own assumptions about like some artist's work. I make art that clearly states a problem that we are facing at this time in our lives. My hope is that the issue the work is addressing is a problem they may have never heard of, and inspire them to take a deeper look and research more about the topic.
Environmental concerns such as deforestation, coral bleaching, and climate change are all topics that I have focused my work around in the past year as well as the illegal wildlife trade. These are topics that I am highly passionate about and want to inform others of.
My current project is a six and a half foot sculpture that will consist of four coral "branches." These branches will be painted with a paint pigment that turns clear when heat is applied. Coral in nature will get stressed as water temperature rises which in turn causes the coral to expel all of the Algae living inside of it.  This is known as Coral Bleaching. There are several causes for coral bleaching, but the most common factor is a change in water temperature. This sculpture will be heated from the inside and as a result, the coral will lose its colorful paint and turn white as it would in nature. I will have fish that are colorful while the coral is cool, and as it heats, the fish will turn white as well and reveal a skeleton painted beneath to represent the death of the whole community. This sculpture is in the very beginning stages so I don't have any pictures to post, but below are a few pictures of recent work I have done that are all revolving around this environmental concept.

According to https://www.fws.gov/international/travel-and-trade/illegal-wildlife-trade.html Thousands of wildlife species are threatened by illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade. For example, in recent months significant media attention has gone to the plight of the world's rhinoceros species, which are facing increased poaching as demand for their horns increases in Asia. In some parts of Asia, rhino horn is considered to be a powerful traditional medicine, used to treat a variety of ailments. While there is little scientific evidence to support these claims, the dramatic rise in poaching to supply this demand is pushing rhinos toward the brink of extinction.

According to https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.

In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. The warm waters centered around the northern Antilles near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico expanded southward. Comparison of satellite data from the previous 20 years confirmed that thermal stress from the 2005 event was greater than the previous 20 years combined.

This piece has not been completed yet, and is still in the building process, but this pendant will be a visual of deforestation. The saw blade behind the trees is an instant indicator to the deforestation that is happening around the globe rapidly due to mass amounts of land development and agriculture. 

Walt Disney's newspaper editor told the aspiring cartoonist he wasn't creative enough.

J.K. Rowling was a divorced single parent living on benefits when she wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - and the book was rejected by 12 publishers before being snapped up by Bloomsbury.

We've all heard the failure stories of these incredible successful people.. It is inspiring, especially when you seem to be at a stand still. In my last post I talked about being a senior in college and trying to find where I am supposed to be in the world. I also talked about applying to art shows and how I was turned down on the first 2 that I applied for. I had applied for 4 more, knowing that I did not have a great chance of getting in. And, like I had assumed, I did not get invited to the first one I heard back from. It really did take a hit on my confidence when I found out I was denied, but I am still hopeful for the next three.  

The show that I got denied from was a world wide small metals show. This was an exhibition I assumed I would not get invited to because amazing artists from around the world submitted pieces, and this was one of the first metal jewelry pieces I had ever made. Of course I had hoped that I would get in, but in reality I had no real chance of making the cut. BUT what I do know is that the judges of this contest saw my name and my artwork. Whether it was good enough for their show or not, my name was put in front of people who had never seen it before.  The next show I will hear from is a cup show that is being judged by one of my favorite ceramic artists. I have the same outlook on this show as I did for the small metals one. Whether or not I get in doesn't matter as much as the fact that one of my favorite artists who is known around the world will see my cups and see my name associated with them. 

It is rare to be successful right out the gate. Artists especially take years or decades refining their work in order to become recognized for what they do. I am still young, and I still have plenty of time to find the recognition I am looking for. As I look forward to the next month waiting to hear from the other three shows, I will be applying for more shows, and looking for more ways to get my name and my work out there in order to get where I want to be. 

Being a senior in college, I have been thinking a lot about my future and where I want to be in a year. I know where I want to live, but I have no idea what my future plans are. I know I have a family business that I will work at, but what else? I Think I would like to work at a company called iD3, but they are downtown, and this family business is more important to me than that. As an artist, I don't want to lose that aspect of my life either. I know I want to keep creating, but right now I guess I don't really know how.
I have been stressing since last April about our Senior Exhibition that I will be participating in this coming April. The artists that were exhibiting their work were all students, but there was one in particular that stressed me out. Donté was a fantastic artist who has now gone on to The University of Iowa to complete graduate school. His portfolio of work and his resume was so intense that I didn't think I was good enough. He has exhibited at so many galleries, and had so many experiences that I did not have yet. I was stressed because I knew I needed to get my work out there, and apply for these exhibitions, but I really didn't know where to start.
I talked to Donte and a few teachers to figure out what I should be doing, and they just pointed me to a few websites that have calls for artwork. They basically told me to just build my portfolio of work by making things that I am proud of. Make things for the sake of being an artist and wanting to make things, not just because a teacher tells me to. If I am not proud of the work myself, then no gallery is going to want to display it either.
I immediately got online and started searching for calls. I applied to 2 calls with cheap admission fees. I got rejected from both. It was definitely saddening to get rejected, so I did not apply to any more for the rest of the summer.
I had to sit think to myself about what I am doing. I am a senior art student, and I need to be putting myself out there in order to get the recognition I want, and to get eyes on my work that I need.  I realized how many successful people started out by getting rejected or fired. I realized my starting place will probably not immediately push me into success. There are very few artists who became famous or dependent on their work overnight.
All of a sudden about 2 weeks ago, I started coming across these calls again, and found two that looked like I would have a good chance at. I decided it was worth the application fee just to try. One call was for a cup show that I stumbled upon through Instagram. I submitted 5 mugs I created this spring, and I am hopeful that at least 1 will be included in the exhibition. Another call was for a Small Works show that I submitted my Tipping Point coral necklace. I will hear back from that one in 3 days, so I am crossing my fingers. As a few days passed, 2 more opportunities came out of nowhere. There is no possible chance for me to be included if I don't try. So I did.  I have now applied for 4 calls. It has taken a while to get the courage, but I have started to put myself out there for my own benefit. For any other artist reading this, I highly encourage you to put yourself out there as well, no matter the skill level. We have to start somewhere, and there is no time like the present. It is never too early to try.

Below I have added a few pictures of the pieces I submitted.