Experience

Every year the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hosts the Lionfish Challenge that encourages and rewards commercial/recreational divers to remove lionfish from our Florida waters. Along with that challenge they also have a design competition that years shirt design and in 2024 my design (shown above) was chosen for the challenge shirts. I am so honored because I put a lot of time and thought into creating this design. From choosing the colors to be split complementary so that they make the design pop, to drawing all the tiny details of the lionfish and coral silhouettes. I look forward to getting my own shirt and seeing all the challenge supporters sporting my design. I'm also thankful that I am able to help support conservation efforts with my art.

Five Deuces Galleria is an award winning gallery in St. Pete that hosts exhibits for local artists to be featured in. I applied for their "All Things Florida" exhibit with my painting, The Cormorants, and had the opportunity to display this truly Floridian painting. I chose this painting because cormorants are a pretty common bird throughout Florida, especially the Tampa Bay Area. The exhibit lasted throughout February. Details and descriptions of this painting can be found in my portfolio.

Five Deuces Galleria is an award winning gallery in St. Pete that hosts exhibits for local artists to join. I applied for their "Passions" exhibit with my two paintings, Sea Dragun and Protectors, and had the opportunity to display them. I chose these two pieces because they represent my passion for sharks, the ocean, fantasy, and women empowerment. The exhibit lasted throughout October and November. Details and descriptions of theses pieces can be found in my portfolio.

D.O.R. Outfitters is a clothing brand founded by my colleague, Daniel Basa, that provides conservation apparel for the undaunted naturalist. Daniel came to me with all these ideas for designs that he wanted to have on his apparel and I brought his designs to life. So far we have collaborated to created 4 designs together, including this Alligator Grim Reaper, but we have most designs on the way. To learn more about this piece and the other pieces I have created for D.O.R. check out my portfolio.

In July of 2022 the Bimini Biological Field Station, AKA the Bimini Shark Lab announced that for the first time ever they were hosting a week-long Art Meets Science workshop. I immediately applied and eagerly waited for a response. Once I received my acceptance email I actually cried tears of joy because for the first time in my life my two worlds were colliding: the world of art and the world of marine science. The workshop was curated by shark photographer, Chelle Blais and Rosie's Creative and led by award winning wildlife painter and environmental artivist, Francesca Page. Throughout the workshop we would learn about the research being done at the lab, free-dive with various elasmobranchs, sketch wildlife while out in the field and then each day learn a new fundamental of art. I was able to complete two paintings while there, one of a Black Tip Reef Shark following a tutorial by Francesca Page and one of my own based on a picture I took of Gaia the Great Hammerhead Shark while free-diving with her. This workshop was a life-changing experience and even with being a week long I feel as though it drastically improved my artistic skills. The painting I am holding is of Gaia and can be seen in my portfolio.

Plat444m is a Brooklyn based creative team who curate art markets, including the Aries Season Art Market. For this market I chose to join as an artist and vender to sell my stickers and prints. There were other artists, venders, and musical performances throughout the night. Details and descriptions of the paintings on the wall behind me in this photo can be found in my portfolio.

Plat444m is a Brooklyn based creative team who curate art markets, including the Pisces Season Art Market. They would curate an art market for every zodiac season and I decided to join their Pisces market as an artist just to display my work. The market also featured other vendors and musical artists. Details and descriptions of the paintings on the wall behind me in this photo can be found in my portfolio.​

Toni Fukuda was the mother of one of my classmates and active parent in our school district and community. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and wanted to curate an art show representing hope and healing to support the cancer center that supported her throughout her journey. I was honored when she reached out to me about being one of the artists for this show, and offered up 3 of my paintings for the show. All pieces were for sale and I chose to donate all my proceeds to the John Theurer Cancer Center. Toni unfortunately passed before the show, but it was an absolutely beautiful night and celebration of her

The Krispy Kreme closest to my childhood home hosted an art competition where we had to design a donut box. Honestly, I entered this competition with the intention to just have fun with my first art competition. However, I was well aware the winner was going to receive a year supply of donuts so I can't deny that was a motivator as well. I ended up winning the competition in my age category and was able to get a dozen donuts for free every week from this Krispy Kreme, it was awesome.

AP Studio Art was the first academic art course I was able to take in high school. My art teacher was fantastic and really helped me unlock artistic skills I didn't think I had. She always encouraged me to push the boundaries of my art and I owe a lot of my current artistic vision to her. My thesis was focused on women empowerment through intersectional feminism. I utilized watercolor, oil, and acrylic paints to represent diversity and glued yarn to some of the pieces to represent women's connection to creation.