Artist Statement
I originally became interested in becoming a designer after hurricane Sandy in October of 2012 ā I never saw destruction like that before. My home and family really lucked out, we only experienced mild flood damage, however, a lot of people lost their entire homes that day and their lives have been permanently altered. It was that moment in time ā I remember the first day after Sandy ā really questioning and asking where I saw my place in the world. What could I do with my set of skills? or this capability to draw/design/create? Drawing almost appeared silly at this particular time, it had no relation, no way of directly impacting what it truly important, people, everyday people. I think after that point, I really wanted to originally become a designer because I saw it as being practical, functional, and the ability for it to be integrated into our daily lives; as opposed to traditional mediums of art. I felt like it was kind of my ādutyā or sense of responsibility, maybe even heroic, at the time, to serve or to be able to communicate to the world with the set of skills that Iāve been given. I didnāt really know how to go about it back then, but just had this urge or drive to find out. The posters, although, I donāt find them to be entirely successful, because of the original limitations of the assignment, was the first time that I really got to think about this idea of design meets public, even if it was in the most simplest way.One thing that Iām beginning to look into now is architecture and urban design & thinking about how the structure of our society effects crime rates, or social interaction. Itās a slow process but I think people are realizing that they want more public spaces & to enjoy these spaces where we live. Our world right now is so heavily relied on the automobile and roads kind of take first priority over any other type of transportation. I think Iāve been coming at this idea a lot during my years at Mason Gross, from different angles and approaches.I design because I want to design our environment, our world. I want to rethink how we utilize our space as a society. This summer I joined the non-profit organization, Woof, and began learning about our landscape and the beneficial uses of indigenous plants, especially weeds. Iām becoming interested in these extremely resilient plants, and what potential benefits they could provide society. Iām also planning on learning how I can incorporate them into my craft, for example, I learned that one is able to make paper from wild mushrooms, and ink from the North american poke weed, as long as you are careful. My designs, thus far, have not broken into the social sphere, but I think these projects are getting somewhere in a peripheral way and I almost viewed them as a learning tool, in order, to help become more acquainted with this topic.