In 1985, I was born in Chalk Mountain, TX, a small, unincorporated town with a population of 25 (4 being my family). My father worked at the power plant, my mother wrangled her children, and we all cohabitated with an abundance of barn cats.

I discovered a love of art in the 1990s. We had moved to the Dallas area by then, and my grandmother would regularly visit and take me to the Dallas Museum of Art and the Amon Carter Museum of Art. In high school, I would make my friends sneak off to the Dallas Arts District with me.

I attended Washington University in St. Louis from 2003-2007, earning my Bachelor’s in Fine Art with a minor in Film and Media Studies. In 2007, I moved to New York City and worked in post-production editing before returning to Graduate School for Art in 2009. In 2011, I graduated from the New York Academy of Art with a Master’s in Fine Art, focused in painting. I had studios in South Williamsburg and Bushwick.

But I missed my home state. In 2013, I moved to the Texas Coast - first Rockport, then Corpus Christi. I found beauty in the flat landscape where you could see for miles, so different from the skyscraper-cluttered skyline of the City. I fell in love with Corpus Christi, where every street corner triggers dejá vu, not for a specific place, but a stage of life.

I’ve made Corpus Christi my permanent home. I spent 10 years at the Rockport Center for the Arts, bringing the larger Art scene to a small town. In 2023, I began working at Del Mar College, Art & Drama Department, guiding young creatives through the beginning of their careers. I live in a house where the pets outnumber the humans 2-1, and I am grateful each day for the people who believed in me and supported my dream.