Updated: _ March 15, 2012 ______________________________________________

 

 

For as long as I can remember, I have revelled in making the lives of those around me richer and more exciting. Over the years in Knoxville's best and brightest public schools for K-12, I could almost always be found trying to brighten someone's day, asking the teacher too many questions, or drawing on my desk.

It was in the 6th grade that I got my first taste of national recognition in art: in the Crayola Dream Makers competition. But it was not until my second year in high school that I could truly begin to pursue the arts. That year, I was accepted to Tennessee's Governor's School for the Arts. I returned from GSFTA with more skills and enthusiasm than I could have previously imagined–a sensation that was even furthered by my attendance of the Summer Seminar of the Marie Walshe Sharpe program the following year.

Through these years, I craved excuses to make more art, and I would jump on the chance to enter each competition that passed my way. This habit helped me to stack up a generous track record in the art competition circuit.

Before leaving high school, I had already adopted a lifestyle of collecting hobbies and trying to fill every opening in my schedule. Back then, this included countless hours of volunteer work, sports, theatre, web design, and community development. In college, this list was lengthened by several new sports and outdoors activities, but most importantly by computer science and glassblowing. That last one immediately filled a void that plagued me in my artistic endeavours. No longer did I have to find a reason to make art; it seems that the simple existence of the material begs me to make more glass, and to pursue a new understanding of the form. All of this to say: I have always fostered an appetite for a full plate, and I enjoy a varied diet (a little too much); while this appetite keeps me from my craft more than it should, it will never be able to keep me from art for long.

to be continued...