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Winner of the Roger T. Williams prize, National Sculpture Society - Young Sculptor of the Year, 2010.
I was born and raised in Southern California. My life wasn’t surrounded by art, but my interest in it was there from the beginning. I won my first award for art in the 2nd grade, after that I continued to develop my abilities with help from my mother. Although for the most part I was more interested in becoming a lawyer, I still enjoyed drawing. In the 7th grade, I (along with four other students) won an award for an illustrated map of the 13 colonies. We had won the Los Angeles County competition and then went on to the State competition. We placed second so we weren’t able to go on to the National Finals. We did however win a lot of money to help improve our school. After that, my desire to be a lawyer was left behind and a new passion for art filled my mind.
In high school I leapt at the chance to take an art class. There I met one of the first great teachers of my life. Ms. Patty Stanzione taught the art class at Bishop Amat. She allowed me to advance at my own pace and change assignments to make them more challenging. I gained a lot in those years and won several more awards for art. In my senior year the school hosted an event called College Day, where many representatives from varying colleges and universities came to the school to recruit students. There I met a representative from the Art Institute of Southern California in Laguna Beach. I was one of only a few students to ask for information. I was intrigued by the idea of a school completely dedicated to art. I applied and just before graduation I received my acceptance letter. It was a good thing too because it was the only college that I had applied to.
When I got there the next semester I found out that being the best artist in your high school still leaves you short when you come face to face with the best artists from all the high schools. It was like starting all over again. Everything I thought I knew about art had to be redefined and modified. The innate ability was there, but the skills had to be developed. I soon gained those skills and was on my way to becoming one of the better students at the school. It was in the fall of 96 that I saw there was a sculpture class being added to the curriculum, so I signed up. I met Raymond Persinger that semester and his sculpture class changed my life.
From the moment I first set my fingers into clay I fell in love with sculpture. At the time there was only a beginning life sculpture class available, but when the semester was over I had not had enough of sculpture. I asked Ray if he would be interested in offering me an advanced sculpture class, he said yes and I became the first and only advanced sculpture student at that time. I worked on life sized figures and twice life sized portraits. It was great. People all over the school would come over to see the new work being created. Later came foundry classes and sculpture took another turn. BRONZE!! I soon graduated but continued taking classes and doing foundry work.
My skills have continued to grow over the years and I like to think that with every new sculpture I learn a bit more. I hope that in the years to come my work continues to develop into the ideas and ideals that I had for it in those early years. With a newfound dedication to my work, I am confident that the best is still to come.