Â鶹´«Ã½

Earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts introduced me to artistic practices, perspectives, opportunities, and mediums I otherwise would not have encountered. I developed an unexpected interest in typography that continues to shape my work and inform my examination of how we read, interpret, and construct meaning. I now work full-time at Â鶹´«Ã½, just above the art studio that has always brought me joy and continues to inspire my creative practice. In the accompanying photo, I’m showing off hand-sculpted fingernails in front of my own prints, proof that my art practice occasionally extends all the way to my fingertips.

Attending art classes at Washington State University Vancouver helped me grow more confident in sketching and designing. The art classes I took taught me a lot about the creative process, and I have been able to use the techniques from those courses in my 3D modeling and animations. I learned the importance of sketching out ideas and of using sketchbooks and maquettes to experiment with and visualize designs. Â鶹´«Ã½ art classes made me far more confident in starting projects and in bringing my ideas to life.

Since graduating from Â鶹´«Ã½, my life has been full of adventure and growth. Throughout these changes, my appreciation for nature, connection, laughter, sunshine, color, expression, and creation has remained constant. As a student, art classes helped me connect with myself while observing the world around me in a deeper way. In my career with Daimler Truck North America, I have sought positions with creative freedom and autonomy as I work to affect our company culture positively. Whether creating an engaging presentation or flyer, or admiring sketches of a truck model, I use the fundamentals I learned at Â鶹´«Ã½ every day to interact with and appreciate the world around me.

I have been studying for the LSAT with hopes of attending law school and eventually working in art law. The areas that interest me the most are the repatriation of cultural objects and the protection of cultural heritage. Studying art history helped me develop strong critical thinking skills and the ability to engage with complex ideas. Researching the provenance and histories of cultural objects pushed me to ask questions about ownership, power structures, and ethics. These ways of thinking continue to shape how I understand the complex relationships between art, law, and cultural heritage.

Since graduating from Â鶹´«Ã½, I have experienced many changes both good and bad, but all of them have shaped me into who I am today. I work in marketing and recently started a new role at JD Fulwiler & Company Insurance that I am super excited and passionate about! Taking art classes on the Vancouver campus really shaped my career path in marketing because I use a lot of creativity in the work I do. I use techniques I learned in art classes when I create marketing materials, graphic designs, and social media posts. I really love what I do, and I appreciate all of the projects I worked on and people I met at Â鶹´«Ã½!

I spent much of my time at Â鶹´«Ã½ attending art classes as well as participating in the ArtX club, and if I wasn't doing either of those things I was hanging out in the studio working on art projects, both for homework and personal fulfillment. The art department and team opened many possibilities for me and gave me a solid foundation for my own creative process. I explore many mediums but my current obsession is photography. I met my wife Katie Chavers in art class and the two of us have started our own event photography company, Counter Cat Studios. Digital photography is my current fixation, but analog art, such as drawing, will always be at my core.

Art classes taught me more than technical skills in drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. While those techniques still feature in my creative practice today, learning to embrace risk while working towards mastery of a new process was an even more valuable lesson. Pursuing self-expression within the parameters of class assignments gave me both freedom and restriction. Working within this dialectic, I lost my fear of judgement and found my confidence. Studio classes taught me both patience and persistence. Some of my happiest and most productive hours on campus were spent making work while learning from professors, classmates, and visiting artists. Art history classes encouraged me to move beyond experiencing art only as an aesthetic pleasure by exploring its structural and conceptual layers. While most of the work I make today is constructed in my backyard studio, everything I learned as a student continues to enrich my life.

My life is surrounded by art. From selling stickers and art prints at vendors markets to working on personal and local short films at independent film studios, art is no longer a hobby but a whole lifestyle. Designing and painting murals all around Vancouver and Portland has been a highlight and busy job since graduation! I’m also pleased to announce that I have been accepted to the Heritage Arts Apprenticeship Program by WA Cultures and currently under the mentorship of Christian Barrios, a local artist, muralist, and gallery owner! Looking back at my time at Â鶹´«Ã½ and the amazing art program, I’m grateful to the teachers and fellow students who helped shape me into the artist I am today. Human collaboration, attention to details, planning, and communication are all skills that I learned at school and take with me everywhere I go, in life and in my art. Here’s me in front of one my murals that I did last year!

Taking art classes at Â鶹´«Ã½ shaped how I understand my current profession, my goals, and my future. In the studio, I spent hours drawing, painting, sculpting, and experimenting. I was trained to pay attention to small details in a deeper way: to notice subtle shifts in light, gesture, and space, and to create my own conceptual connections that were not immediately obvious. I majored in English and am an editor at heart. The time I spent in my art classes taught me to revise instead of rushing to answers and to translate abstract ideas into something tangible. I carry that process into my current work, where planning, problem solving, and collaboration all feel like extensions of my education. Â鶹´«Ã½'s art program did not just give me technical skills; it also gave me a framework for interpreting the world and a creative mindset that guides my choices and professional life.

Earning my bachelor’s degree at Â鶹´«Ã½ taught me that I care deeply for learning. I am now attending Portland State University as a post-bac student and preparing to begin a master's program in art history this coming September. Taking art history classes gave me the opportunity to discover passion that previously felt missing, and soon I will be working towards a career either in curation or academia. Although I am now focused entirely on art history, studio classes were valuable in shaping how I think about art. Approaching art as a maker helped me realize it can be an exercise of the mind. The process of creating meaning in my own work allows me to better find the meaning in the work I study.

A dear friend and art professor once told me to draw what my eyes see and not what I imagine I see. That advice continues to shape my creativity, by letting my eyes see the beauty before me just as it is and enjoy it fully in its original state. Creativity is part of my daily life, and while I don’t paint as often, I enjoy making custom personalized cards with fun graphics and mottos for every and any occasion. In addition to my work as a freelance photographer, I work part-time for my husband's company and raise our daughter. Living in Germany, I enjoy traveling and reflecting on what the move did and how many awesome doors it opened. Like the curves in my painting, sometimes a narrow or hard path can lead to something beautiful. If you stick to your course, you can reach your destination. The little Polaroid camera I’m holding symbolizes my work in photography, which is like an extra organ. I can’t let that go; it’s a part of me.

During my time at Â鶹´«Ã½, I enrolled in almost every art class the school had to offer. Photography class gave me a foundational understanding of camerawork that I use daily, whether I’m adjusting lighting and camera settings for more effective product photos or directing models and changing sets on location. Printmaking class taught me the importance of planning, patience, and acceptance of failure as part of learning. These insights are valuable to my process at work and my attitude towards restarting a project when it gets shot down. If I had one class that I could urge every art student to take, it would be painting. Color theory, composition, taking the time to experiment and understand mediums, and being able view criticism as a compliment that your work has potential are just a few things I learned. My time in Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s art program molded me into someone who sees my own creative potential and no longer has imposter syndrome when I’m labeled an artist.