MFA Fall Semester 2024

The fall semester of my final year of grad school saw a growth of theme and direction with my thesis, Manifest Joy. What began as joyful paintings of flowers on bold patterned backgrounds has evolved to symbolize so much more. I started researching avenues for joy and turned to bees. How they collect and share their pollen, their joy if you will, storing it for when it’s needed and sharing it with one another. I find this such a beautiful metaphor for life. You can't walk around expecting to survive and react appropriately to the horrible atrocities in the world if you don't have joy stored up within you. Storehouses of joy are needed to remind us that rainbows always come after the rain. Halfway through the semester I also began looking at sacred geometry as another storehouse. Nature is full of sacred geometry, and you cannot look at the symmetry of a flower and not think of the divine creator. The order and symmetry of geometry also creates a sense of peace that ties back into the storehouse of joy. If you focus on items that bring you joy, that gives you something stable to hold onto much like the structure of geometry. Manifest Joy will continue into the spring semester as I work to visually create pockets of joy and happiness for the viewer. Inviting them to relax in my own expressions of joy while they contemplate ways to create joy in their own lives.