Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

I love creating sculptures from found metal or wooden pieces. The parts are an artistic puzzle for me, guiding the design. I add my own sculpted figurative pieces in epoxy to fully realize the story of the piece. I especially love using rust because it’s like nature’s art, portraying impermanence. Mythic storytelling is very important to me as well.

Where do you find inspiration?

I'm inspired by nature, by humanity’s impact and our place in the natural world as well as nature's influence on us. I’ve always loved stop motion animation, particularly the work of The Brothers Quay, Jan Švankmajer and Jiří Trnka. The inspiration comes through in my sculptures as some of them have articulated joints for posing. My son is a huge inspiration for me, I want to show him that it's possible to pursue your dreams and that through determination and perseverance, anything is possible.

What would you do with $25,000?

It would be a huge help. My husband and I are both artists and work ebbs and flows, this would help us keep pursuing our passion for creating art. Having the exposure as well would mean so much to me because I've never displayed my work in a gallery. My art was on hold for years while caring for my mom who had dementia and I had my own dealings with cancer. I've dreamed of showing my work for a long time. Beyond the contest, now knowing about The Art of Elysium, I'd love to be part of the cause.