Masters of Fine Art: Illustration (Hartford Art School)

“What We Carry Back”

My work explores the intersection of illustration, printmaking, and place, with a particular interest in California’s landscapes, history, and state parks. Drawing from personal experiences of nature, family, and exploration, I use visual storytelling to examine how places become connected to memory, identity, and a sense of belonging.

I describe myself as a subtractive artist, embracing processes that require removing, carving, masking, or otherwise revealing an image rather than simply building it up. My work combines traditional and digital techniques, including linocut, screen printing, gouache, colored pencil, stencils, cyanotype, and digital painting. Rather than concealing the evidence of the process, I intentionally preserve its marks, imperfections, and layers as part of the final image.

My recent body of work, developed through my MFA thesis, focuses on California State Parks and the stories embedded within these places. Through illustrated posters and other print-based work, I explore the balance between preservation and change, historical narrative and personal experience, inviting viewers to consider the landscapes around them not simply as destinations, but as places filled with stories worth remembering and preserving.