I have tried many different mediums throughout my art journey, but nothing has made me as excited to create as fabric has. Although my main passion is fashion design, I ] also use fabric to embellish paintings, create sculptures, and sew quilts. The malleability, texture, and versatility of fabric adds so much character to an artwork. I believe it grounds my work, making it feel more tactile, more real. Most of the fabrics I use are discarded scraps. I use scrap fabric because it is more sustainable, and because it tells a far more interesting story. Textile waste in the fashion industry is one of the highest contributors to landfills and air pollution. As an artist, I know that it is my responsibility to combat that in any way I can. Taking old materials destined for the landfill and giving them a new purpose is my way of contributing. Nowadays it is extremely easy to ignore how much time and skill goes into creating something of quality when millions of garments are produced every day. I believe that working with fabric has given me a greater appreciation for craftsmanship. Learning about fabric and understanding how clothes are made has changed my perspective on what makes something valuable. It takes so much love, skill, and dedication to craft something by hand, and that love should also be afforded to discarded materials as well. I am very passionate about extending the life of textiles, because I believe there is something beautiful about giving new life to something that was forgotten. Whether it be patch-working a large detailed quilt or simply darning a sock, extending the story of a textile by making it into something new is my passion. This idea of finding something new in the old extends into my subject matter as well. Old stories found in fairytales, folklore, mythology, and religion highly interest me because I believe we can find ourselves in these stories. I love using my art to show my own interpretations of these tales in order to provide a perspective others may not have considered. In this way, the life cycle of the story continues, much like the life cycle of the materials I use to tell them. My dream is to be a link in the chain, not the final result. I am very inspired by the idea of passing on my work to the next person. In 50 years, when the clothes I've made have worn through and the paintings I've made have faded, I hope they are not discarded and forgotten. I hope that someone will see what they could be, and give them a new life like I did when they were first made. My medium inspires so much of what I do. I never cease to find new ways to incorporate fabric into my art, or new ways to manipulate it on a dress form. It is a medium that offers me a thousand possibilities and inspires me in new ways every day. As long as there is fabric to reclaim, I will reclaim it. As long as there is a new story to tell, I will tell it.