"I grew up in upstate NY. In school I developed a love for making art at a very young age that stays with me today. I loved it for the way it made me feel, and for the moment other children would look over my shoulder to see what I was making. It was in high school during very tumultuous times that I realized the full potential of creating art: The realization that expression was freedom from the harshness of life’s reality. Art was a place where one could say, do or believe in their own way."