Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

Art is the only thing that consistently helps me understand myself. When I created my portrait drawing, I realized I wasn’t just making an image, I was uncovering a layer of myself that usually stayed hidden. I struggle choosing one medium. Every form of art makes me feel something different. Design helps me organize ideas, photography captures those beautiful moments in life, sculpture is melded by my hands and is tangible, and drawing is chaos and simplicity. It all feels real and honest.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in the way my grandma taught me to see the world. She looked at everything with such a wonder, even the smallest things were worth attention. She never called herself an artist, but she taught me how to notice beauty in people, places, and myself. Because of her, I look out and see the world so deeply. My art comes from trying to hold onto that feeling of life she showed me.

What would you do with $25,000?

I would use the $25,000 to step outside of the spaces I know and see what else exists for me in the world. I don’t just want to stay within what’s familiar or what feels safe creatively. I want to travel, to learn and make silly mistakes in places I’ve never been, to understand people and environments that will challenge how I see everything. I want to grow not just as an artist, but as a person.