I chose to work with needle and thread, photo paper and the a page from Nakita Gill’s Your soul is a river.

“Your body will heal,

and so will your mind…

You owe noone an explanation,

a reason,

a defense

for who you have become

after you survive.”

This piece is an attempt to harmonize two languages of emotional truth, paint and dance. Painting and dancing have been separate forms of creative expression since the beginning of time. Using a two-dimensional surface with a three-dimensional dance, communicates a deeper expression of consciousness.

My story was written… it existed one way… until everything changed. The pages past were no longer true. Instead of abandoning the book, divine hands carefully and painstakingly transformed my story into a work of art.

I believe art is one of the most powerful activism tools to raise awareness and move people to action. I use the term awareness sensitively because I know most individuals are relatively aware that human trafficking is an issue. I believe by exposing this uncomfortable reality, the viewer receives an opportunity to reflect on their own beliefs about the value of human life, also to discover the hope they can offer.

My material process always starts with research. I look for articles, podcasts, and videos regarding human trafficking and sex trafficking statistics and information.  I then collect images that reflect the research I’ve done. Because images of sex trafficking victims are not easily traced (due to its illegal nature), I use images of missing children and adults, refugees, and some sex trafficking survivors.) From those images, I sketch stylized versions of each person then watercolor paint them, then use colored pencil for detail. Every tag contains actual costs to purchase humans (either to own or for sexual exploitation) from each stated location. All textual information is retrieved from price lists found in informational books about sex trafficking. 

“Human trafficking is damaging more than just the skin that is being used, but also the loveliness underneath.”

One of the most common misconceptions about art therapy is that you need to be “good” at art to benefit from it. But art therapy has nothing to do with technical skill—and everything to do with expression, process, and connection. It’s not about creating something polished or perfect. It’s about showing up, being curious, and allowing your inner world to take shape on the page.

Coming from a background in fine arts, where technique and mastery were often the focus, I’ve had to gently unlearn the belief that art only holds value when it meets a certain standard. In art therapy, I’ve found freedom in the messiness of beginnings, the vulnerability of the unfinished, and the quiet power of images that speak more truth than words can. I'm learning to embrace the idea that art is always a process—one that evolves with us.

Whether it’s a simple doodle or a layered painting, what matters is not how it looks, but what it holds. The heart of art therapy is not performance—it's presence.

This series focuses on the unrealistic, unattainable standards of beauty and sexuality in our current society, and it's links to pornography and sexual exploitation. 

Materials include: magazine pages, thread, wax, acrylic paint, tape, coins, gems, marker and beads. 

When a broken person tries to help a broken person heal, do they heal?

There is a tremendous amount of victory in being a “healed healer”.

materials:

watercolor paper, graphite pencil, and watercolor

Motherhood has reshaped me in quiet and powerful ways—stretching my heart, my identity, and my limits. Becoming a mom while also being a student and working has tested me, grown me, and changed me—but every sacrifice has been worth it. I’m not who I was before, and I wouldn’t want to be.

This is a collection of personalized line drawings.

Black felt tip pen

Watercolor

8 X 10 cardstock

I am learning to embrace that art is always a learning process, and that there isn’t shame in the simplicity of beginnings. Each piece of progress is foundational. Here are a series of oil paintings and charcoal drawings from courses in 2015.

For this piece, I sculpted miniature forms from clay inspired by the pottery I saw when touring the ruins of Pompeii, Italy. I responded to the visual subtlety of the table structure with the miniature forms. The black united these forms so that the miniatures became part of the table and vice versa. Formally there are ideas about repetition and space. Emotionally there are feelings of exploring and investigating the objects. There is also the idea about a game or a precious collection that is conveyed.

Materials:

Clay, glaze, wood, adhesive, spray paint.

Pompeii was published in FLARE magazine in 2015.

The idea of my piece is a direct response to the feelings I had about scale and space when visiting Romanesque architecture in Italy. The Church of Santo Stefano has bare stonewalls, with little décor, this is entirely unlike the other ornate churches in Italy. Even this building once had elaborate color but is now striped of all color and reveals its stonewalls. This structure impacted me the most in on my trip, the raw, and undecorated interior and exteriors. Along with the minimal color and décor, the large-scale structure creates a presence in its space. I wanted this piece to reflect the magnitude of the sacred spaces I visited, and the beauty even in the simplicity.

Viewers were encouraged to climb inside and appreciate the simplicity of the space.