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Yet another weekend and we are on our way to Queens from Long Island, NY to visit my grandfather. I am sitting in the back seat of our 1991 Honda Accord, staring out of the window watching the trees and traffic turn into streaks of color as they fly by. My eyes begin to close, and just as I am about to fall asleep, I am woken up by being lifted out of the backseat and set down in front of a bald man in a wheelchair. Looking up, and being just five years old at the time, the first thing that stood out to me was that he was missing both of his legs. This initial shock is not easy for a toddler to digest. I got past it, however, once he shared his passion with me: art. He was a painter, a sketcher, and my first exposure to what would become a life long appreciation for the arts. My biggest inspiration, my grandfather was a man who fought in World War II, and lost both of his legs to diabetes. This did not stop him from pursuing his passion.
 

As a result of constant encouragement from family and friends, plus growing up with influences such as Chuck Jones, Charles Schultz, and Jim Davis, I have always had some level of confidence that I would worktowards a career in an artistic field. This confidence began to fade away once I entered college. “Would you consider going to art school?” my parents asked me when applying to colleges. My answer: No. I chose to attend SUNY at Buffalo, the school with the largest, furthest away, and coldest campus I could get into. It was a confusing, existential time for me. Despite the fact that I can’t stand the cold weather and I was nothing more than a number amongst thousands of students, I managed to find my niche. I majored in Media Study: Production with a minor in Studio Art to learn the basics of production as well as stay immersed in the art world. All I was missing was animation, until one graduate student came along to teach the fundamentals. Whether I needed the credits or not, I dropped everything to take every class he offered. I discovered new animators I could relate to, such as Don Hertzfeldt, and learned everything from hand drawn animation to rotoscoping. Through replacement animation and an entire semester at my disposal, I created a music video where I animated thousands of picturesof mouths singing along to a song. My confidence finally seemed back on track. Then came graduation.

 

The word “limbo” is how I have described my time between college and my arrival at Savannah College of Art and Design – Atlanta on more than one occasion. I tested the waters of the working world as an intern and production assistant. I have been employed at a small start up on Long Island as well as a large health and wellness website in Manhattan. During this time, I begrudgingly learned that no matter how many times a certain formula is used, the consumer never gets tired of it. I felt my creative ambition slowly dissipating. Then I discovered comedy as an artistic medium. I came to be fascinated by people such as Louis C.K. and his creative process. There is an underlying truth and passion in his work that is so raw, so real, it cannot be matched.  However, the viewer’s experience is one of great engagement. Like George Carlin, after coming up with an entire special’s worth of material, he throws out everything and starts fresh. This sounds like madness. What he is doing is forcing himself to dig deep and produce something with more feeling. Now that I am at SCAD working towards a Master of Fine Arts in Animation, it is my time to dig deep, and push bounds through 2D animation and character design as well as enter the new realm of 3D. Not only will I create work I can be proud of and inspire others with, I plan to evolve into the unstoppable creative person I saw myself as so many years ago.

​​artist's statement