Year of Residency: 2020

Education

• BFA in Sculpture at Texas State University Spring 2019
• BFA in Photography at Texas State University Spring 2019

Exhibitions

• PRECIPICE BFA Photography exhibition
  April 29 – May 3rd 2019
• PRISMATIC BODIES BFA Sculpture exhibition
  May 6 – 10th 2019COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
• 10/29/2017 – Camp Contemporary at The Contemporary Austin at Laguna Gloria: Part of the casting team and demonstration station for the community.
• 03/10/2018 – Free for All at the Contemporary Austin at Laguna Gloria: Showcased Spiritual Growth during the event as well participate with the casting team and managing the casting workshop for the community event.

Motivation

Throughout my college career I have continuously explored the hidden identity within my surrounding community to unravel a common experience we all as humans undergo through my photographic practice. As in Sculpture I continue to experiment with various materials the world has provide to simply play and discover new possibilities. As a recent graduate I’ve learned that my work ethic constantly requires to me to travel and create work involving my current surrounding. For new concepts, new environments, and forcing myself to be more active within the art world. I’ve been hardheaded when it comes to putting my work out into the public, I’ve never applied to upcoming art shows nor published any works on social media. Since my BFA show’s I felt for the first time what it means to create work that truly creates an experience for people and to see the interaction between the viewer and my work. That experience alone is my driving motivation to embrace a whole new world around me and continue to learn and grow as an artist to overcome any challenge ahead.

Artist statement

As an artist that works in Photography and Sculpture, my work practice is completely different from each other. On one end I am completely involved in the individuals of my community and on the other end I immerse myself in the materials the environment. As a photographer I explore the role of collaboration, performance, and identity with strangers in my current living community. Individual’s wear a mask I construct from various found materials, strangers are asked to put it on, in order to erase their facial identity and instead, explore how gesture, place, and symbolic aesthetics define themselves. The mask is an embodiment of an idea everyone can relate too.  I’ve always been interested in the unknown boundaries between the internal and external self often hidden from society.
As in sculpture I am continuously exploring my current environment discovering and utilizing the materials at hand in a practice of sustainability. I travel through abandoned locations, community dumpsters and the detritus of society. I believe every local environment offers everything needed for explorations in sculpture. Being attentive and receptive to the opportunities at hand is essential, as is an awareness to material culture and the history for conceptual applications. In my work, I strive to transcend the possibilities of what any given material is perceived to be, in contrast to what it can be in a new context. Paying close attention to my materialistic surrounding, plastic bottles on the floor and thrown out furniture. I continually look to nature for visual references, touching upon the golden ratio in the composition and structures of my sculptures, always in search for new possibilities. This process establishes a deeper understanding of my relationship to society and how I may contribute a distinct voice in the language of sculpture and its integration into the greater community.
Links

Puffy’s ig – www.instagram.com/puffy_bsp