It seems silly now in retrospect, that it would be a Disney artist at a mall that would begin my interest in art. But I realize now it was not the content of her drawings that I found inspiring, it was her miraculous ability to conjure these images seemingly our of thin air. To me, as a six year old child, it seemed like a kind of sorcery. I was mesmerized and stood watching her paint all day. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was an incredibly pivotal moment in my life and would propel my desire to make art. After my encounter with live drawing at the mall, to my parents dismay, I took a sharpie marker to the hallways of our house trailing it down down the hall and into the living room, over the lampshades and into the bottoms of my parents shoes. At seven years old I created a symbol and drew it all over my yard and neighborhood. My parents put a stop to the “house graffiti” but decided to give me creative control of my room. At fourteen, I covered every square inch of my bedroom in dense, detailed drawings of characters, ridiculous elements of pop culture that were influencing me at the time, poems, phone numbers of my friends, and my secret language (of which I have since forgotten the code).

My bedroom as a teenager

Passing out Hearts of the World panels in Naples, Italy

I wanted to become an artist to feed my own spirit, but also so that I can provide that spark of realization to other children and adults alike. There is something in each person that is receptive to that spark and it can bring great joy and passion to them if they can ignite it.