I have taken my artistic journey as a form of self discovery and healing. My influence would be described as a trauma informed practice. Understanding how emotional, psychological, and blunt force trauma affect the nervous system. Growing up I had several encounters with traumatic situations that shaped how I saw and interpreted the world. Later on in life, surviving a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) that added another layer of complexity to my perception of my surroundings, especially while under stress.

I’ve come to realized why I assemble my pieces from scrap materials. That being out of fear. The fear I felt to be ignored and discarded growing up. In essence my work has been a trauma response to something I feared and felt so real when I was triggered. The ability of being able to control the fate of my materials brought a immense sense of relief.

Surviving a car accident that left me with a TBI and scars on my head (pictured below) has also been a blessing and a curse. It gave me a short mental capacity to handle stress and a demeanor of vigilance and on edge towards everyone including love ones. Without this injury though, I don’t think I would have unlocked my artistic eye. Before the accident my work was very static and non engaging. That was totally different after the injury. Shapes, colors, and even shadows created an interesting composition in my head.

Another struggle post accident, was dealing with debilitating migraines do to my head injury. So intense at times it put a hold on my art career for 7 years. The times I welded, I would go into pain from extreme light sensitivity. Having to stop after a few minutes in the studio. I used multiple different welding hoods with no luck. Fortunately finding the ESAB Sentinel line of hoods (Pictured here) saved my art career. More than that, it gave me a sense of normalcy. The yellow lens helped diffuse the bright welding light, making the pain and migraines not be as intense. By far the most important tool in my shop, an instrument of my creativity and source of regulation from the effects of my head injury.

My mission has been to raise awareness on how trauma in all its forms can affect a person. Sharing the information, I have learned about myself. I’ve devoted to be open, honest, and direct on my own experiences. That’s been evident in my work’s imagery and purpose. Hopefully other people can see they are not alone, and that they can learn to self regulate if they are in a similar situation. I’ve learned to look at challenges as opportunities to grow. Understanding how things came to be, and doing things to be better everyday.