My work is heavily inspired by my interactions with the world around me. Throughout the entirety of my art-making processes, I take into consideration the cultural norms and perspectives that make up my perception of our society. In my earlier works, I honed in on interpreting others’ perspectives of interactions and experiences outside of myself, coming to the realization that billions of others exist, and exist within an individualistic sphere. This idea has flowed into my most recent work, maturing and shifting into how others interpret cultural norms and gender on a personalized spectrum. My work helps to interpret and digest ideas and concepts that exist outside of myself, processing perspectives that I would potentially not have otherwise considered. Spending hours on a piece allows me to sit with a concept and truly understand what it is that I’m creating. My process usually starts with a sketch: a brain dump of everything that I might want to incorporate in my work, which then becomes narrowed down and condensed into a final vision. From this point, I go to take my reference photos from which I will create my art. I then move to the creation of my pieces. More often than not, my art takes form through acrylics, a media I’ve worked with for most of my life. Because of my comfortability and experience with the medium, I’ve found that it is the most fluid way to express my ideas, while making sure to stay consistent with technique and style. Branching out from my comfortability with acrylics, my most recent portfolio has experimented with the incorporation of 3D elements. I hope that this incorporation will help to more clearly communicate my ideas, while including significant elements that add a new depth to my pieces. Through the visual arts department at my current high school, I have been given the opportunity to truly explore exhibitions and competitions that are willing to show my work. Throughout high school, I have been able to exhibit in the National Western Stockshow, alongside the Scholastic art and Writing exhibition and the City Wide Art Contest at the Denver Art Museum. Having my art hung up in spaces outside of my school has given me a new perspective by broadening my view to artists and styles that exist outside of my peers in the classroom. I hope that a continued education in the arts through a university will allow me to continue to find these new perspectives and grow further as an artist, pushing myself past my current comfort zone while exploring new media and ideas.