Bringing art to the community, providing creator space for local artists, and helping those with disabilities, in poverty, and in other difficult situations to find peace and community through artistic expression–after college, I want to open a studio that can provide space for local artists to work on their own work and even sell it, as that is something that I see lacking in my own community as an artist. I also want to provide volunteer-taught, free art classes to the community. My studio would be in an inner-city area, so that I can provide these free art classes to the low-income families and students in low-funding school systems that may not provide well-rounded art education. I also want my studio to be accessible and welcoming to those with disabilities, as I have seen the strong impact of art on those with mental and physical disabilities in my own work helping disabled students in art classes at my high school. I have struggled with mental health issues that have caused me to lose motivation, struggle with self-esteem, feel incapable of success, and feel unworthy of support. This caused me to struggle with my academics, personal relationships, and more. Through art, I was able to find relief from the symptoms of my mental illnesses. I found that while I created, I got a moment of respite from the swirling thoughts of anxiety and the bleak outlook of depression, as well as found ways to connect interpersonally with others. Art allowed me to express my suffering in a way that helped break down the barriers that isolated me. When words were at a loss to express what I felt, I was able to show my struggles with each paint stroke, each pull of a thrown ceramic wall, and each scratch of a pencil. My art allowed me to communicate. Since experiencing this deep struggle with mental health, I have greatly changed as a person. I have built a support system of people who have made an effort to understand my struggles, which has helped me learn better coping strategies to manage my outlook on life, as well as have better communication and relationships. I have also explored ways that I can use art to reflect on my past to understand it better. This discovery of the way art has impacted me through the last few years has created a new drive in my life that pushes me to want to bring art to others, especially those with disabilities, suffering from mental health issues, or struggling financially.

As an elementary-aged child, my father and I were part of a group of people that worked very closely with an impoverished community in a town called Hopkins Park, IL. My father and I, along with the others in the group, provided maintenance work on the houses and trailers of the community, provided assistance for the necessities, and often held massive cookouts where the whole community gathered to provide food for one another with significant contributions from the service group. The largest project we worked on in that community was building, furnishing, and stocking a public library from the ground up. I spent many fall days playing with the community's children as my father and his friends built the structure, hung the drywall, laid the roof and flooring, and eventually created this public library. This library now brings literacy and resources to the community and also provides a space where people build relationships. Eventually, my family moved away from Hopkins Park, IL. We began to be involved in another organization that helps families and children who have fallen upon tough times, Safe Families For Children (SFFC), a not-for-profit centered on aiding and supporting mothers, fathers, and their families as they navigate crises. The parents can reach out to the organization for support, and a case worker is assigned. SFFC will assist with career counseling, finding steady housing, finding employment, and finding safe and reliable childcare. SFFC works to build a supportive community around the family in a way that will ensure they are set up for success. My family serves in a specific way and is most directly involved with child placement in a safe home. Like foster care, SFFC provides temporary placement of a child with a host family; however, in contrast to foster care, this is always done consensually and never involves traumatizing the family by tearing children away. The goal is always to get the parents stable, and then place the children back in the home. I have helped my family host and care for many children over the past 12 years. My family and I have even hosted a sick mother and her child toward the end of her life. I also volunteer at my high school working with students with disabilities in art classes. I have seen the strong impact of art on those with mental and physical disabilities, such as art soothing anger, bringing a sense of accomplishment to students with physical limitations, and helping students with limited verbal abilities to communicate. I have struggled with mental health issues that have caused me to lose motivation, struggle with self-esteem, feel incapable of success, and feel unworthy of support. This caused me to struggle with my academics and personal relationships. Art allowed me to find relief from the symptoms of my mental illnesses as I experienced a moment of respite from the swirling thoughts of anxiety and the bleak outlook of depression, as well as found ways to connect interpersonally with others. This discovery of the way art has impacted me through the last few years has created a new drive in my life that pushes me to want to bring art to others, especially those with disabilities, suffering from mental health issues, or struggling financially. After college, I want to open a studio that can provide space for local artists to work on their own work and even sell it, as well as provide volunteer-taught, free art classes to the community of low-income families and students in low-funding school systems that may not provide well-rounded art education and those with disabilities.

I have struggled with mental health issues that have caused me to lose motivation, struggle with self-esteem, feel incapable of success, and feel unworthy of support. This caused me to struggle with my academics, personal relationships, and more. Through art, I was able to find relief from the symptoms of my mental illnesses. I found that while I created, I got a moment of respite from the swirling thoughts of anxiety and the bleak outlook of depression, as well as found ways to connect interpersonally with others. This discovery of the way art has impacted me through the last few years has created a new drive in my life that pushes me to want to bring art to others, especially those with disabilities, suffering from mental health issues, or struggling financially. Bringing art to the community, providing creator space for local artists, and helping those with disabilities, in poverty, and in other difficult situations to find peace and community through artistic expression. These are my goals as I enter the art career path. After college, I want to open a studio in an inner-city community. My studio would provide space for local artists to rent out to create and sell their artworks, a need I see as a young artist often struggling to find the facilities and resources necessary for me to succeed in creating and selling artwork. I would also love to provide art classes to the community using volunteer art teachers and donations to make it happen for low or no cost. My studio would be in an inner-city area, so that I can provide these free art classes to the low-income families and students in low-funding school systems that may not provide well-rounded art education. This would help to supplement the art education of these children with a wide array of art forms, provide childcare during class time for parents to find work, and also help to build healthy and supportive relationships between the underprivileged and those willing to help. I also want my studio to be accessible and welcoming to those with disabilities, as I have seen the strong impact of art on those with mental and physical disabilities in my own work helping disabled students in art classes at my high school. Through volunteer work with disabled students in my high school, I have seen art soothe anger, bring a sense of accomplishment to students with physical limitations, and help students with limited verbal abilities to communicate. I want to create a space that allows the local community to unite and flourish artistically and relationally as relationships drive creativity and excellence.

Bringing art to the community, providing creator space for local artists, and helping those with disabilities, in poverty, and in other difficult situations to find peace and community through artistic expression. That is where I want to be in five years. After college, I want to open a studio that can provide space for local artists to work on their own work and even sell it, as that is something that I see lacking in my own community as an artist. I also want to provide volunteer-taught, free art classes to the community. My studio would be in an inner-city area, so that I can provide these free art classes to the low-income families and students in low-funding school systems that may not provide well-rounded art education. I also want my studio to be accessible and welcoming to those with disabilities, as I have seen the strong impact of art on those with mental and physical disabilities in my own work helping disabled students in art classes at my high school. I have struggled with mental health issues that have caused me to lose motivation, struggle with self-esteem, feel incapable of success, and feel unworthy of support. This caused me to struggle with my academics, personal relationships, and more. Through art, I was able to find relief from the symptoms of my mental illnesses. I found that while I created, I got a moment of respite from the swirling thoughts of anxiety and the bleak outlook of depression, as well as found ways to connect interpersonally with others. Art allowed me to express my suffering in a way that helped break down the barriers that isolated me. When words were at a loss to express what I felt, I was able to show my struggles with each paint stroke, each pull of a thrown ceramic wall, and each scratch of a pencil. My art allowed me to communicate. Since experiencing this deep struggle with mental health, I have greatly changed as a person. I have built a support system of people who have made an effort to understand my struggles, which has helped me learn better coping strategies to manage my outlook on life, as well as have better communication and relationships. I have also explored ways that I can use art to reflect on my past to understand it better. This discovery of the way art has impacted me through the last few years has created a new drive in my life that pushes me to want to bring art to others, especially those with disabilities, suffering from mental health issues, or struggling financially.

As a young artist, I received a very well-rounded and encouraging art education. I was encouraged to doodle, paint, sculpt, and more by teachers, friends, and family. I participated in art classes and art clubs from a young age where I was praised and encouraged. My artistry was always supported and beloved by people around me. My family hung my artwork on walls, posted about it on social media, shared it with friends and family, and valued my creativity. I was very privileged to receive many opportunities that allowed my art to continue to flourish in ways that I could have never imagined. I also built many relationships with art teachers that allowed me to gain brutally honest insight into ways that my artwork could improve. This allowed me to face my faults head-on and grow my skills and techniques. However, it hasn’t always been brutal honesty. My teachers also encourage exploration and experimentation, as well as growing my creativity and understanding of myself through art. Art has made a huge impact on me in many ways; however, the largest impact it has made is on my communication. I have had mental health struggles that have caused me to pull away from people and isolate myself. When I begin to pull away and isolate, the suffering becomes worse for me, but art allowed me to express and communicate the hurt and pain that I was feeling to others and to reach out for help. My art helped me heal, grow, and cope with my pain and illness. This experience with the joy, relief, comfort, and community that art has provided me has given me an intense desire to help bring art to those with disabilities, in low-income communities, with poor art education programs, and more. I believe that art education can help people express a variety of emotions and experiences that they otherwise would have bottled up. Art can be a freeing experience for all who participate. Giving those who do not have access to strong art education the ability to create I believe will build stronger relationships, communities, and better the world as a whole. My favorite artist is Roberto Lugo. I love his combination of classical, European ceramic forms with surface design that takes inspiration from Hip-Hop and R&B culture, graffiti, and Black history. This juxtaposition creates a message on the discrimination that Black people face in their daily lives, as well as creates commentary on how European artwork has host been valued higher than art from African and Latinx artists.

Growing up with mental health issues has caused a great impact on the way I see and experience the world around me. My depression can lead the world to feel dim, distant, lost, and isolating. My anxiety creates a different feeling: one of franticity, fast pace, and overwhelming. My art has grown to be very impacted by this distortion of my experience of the world. I love to depict portraiture in a way that is strategically abstracted or distorted to help the viewer to grasp the way mental health issues impact perception. I use elongation, pulling, stretching, and enlarging to exaggerate where I feel a certain emotion or illness physically. Distorting color also allows me to show the way my illnesses can create a filter on my perception of the world around me. My experiences with mental health issues and the way art has helped me express this illness have also led me to have a strong desire to bring art to those who also struggle. In the future, I want to run a studio in an inner city environment that helps to bring free, volunteer-based art education and experiences to those in low-income areas. I would also want to provide spaces for local artists to work, display, and sell their art. This would fulfill a very real issue I see as an artist, which is the lack of cost-effective, accessible facilities catered to many different types of art and mediums.