My artistic practice addresses issues of how memory shapes our identity and how to use memory in order to better understand our perspective. Through the construction of liminal space I reflect upon the subconscious and conscious mind. These images address issues of identity and how longing and nostalgia affect the human psyche. Through photographs of sculptures, paintings and light installations I address the architectural spaces in the world around me as catalysts.

Sustainability has become a major concern of contemporary product design. Whether it's furniture, appliances, apparel, or technology designers of every field must now consider the ecological impact of the products that they create. Sustainability of material resources, impact and by products of manufacturing processes, energy using in production, product lifespan, and disposal are all things that must be carefully considered to maximize product sustainability. Strategies for reducing negative environmental impact include maximizing material usage, using recycled and or biodegradable materials, minimizing product weight and transportation, reducing energy consumption, and dematerialization. In more recent years the idea of increasing product lifespan has received a lot of attention from design theorists. This doesn't just mean making goods that can physically last a lifetime and have superior performance. The consumer must have an attachment to the object. This attachment comes from an emotional connection. Contemporary designers must find innovative ways of creating an emotional bond between product and consumer. How can mass produced goods achieve this goal? I believe the answer is involving the consumer in the design process in order to personalize and customize the products they buy. Made to order goods offer the customer the opportunity to co-design the products that they desire so that they suit particular needs and wants. Instead of selecting pre-manufactured goods from a store or website consumers can now personalize and customize an increasing number and range of products. Companies like Longchamp, Nike, Levis, Addidas, and Ralph Lauren are capitalizing on the fact that consumers want to personalize and customize the products they consume without having to lift a finger. By allowing customers to choose colors, sizes, styles, and even adding personalized logos these companies are capitalizing on the fact that consumers want customization. People become more invested and more attached to objects that they have spent effort in creating, allow for self-expression, and that are unique to the user. The consumer is allowed to be creative but this is only from a limited amount of choices available to them. My research involves taking the concept of customization further to make products that are completely unique to an individual. Nothing is more personal and individualized than the human fingerprint. I am exploring how the fingerprint can be abstracted and used as texture on the surface of furniture. By making objects that are personalized to the user it is my goal to deepen the connection between owner and object to increase product lifespan.

While traveling home from work we may glance out our windows at these industrial structures whose fluorescent lights glow throughout the night. These places, often located on the outskirts of the cityscape, leave the viewer with a mix set of emotions. First, our reactions to the height, shape and form, whose towers and beams stretch high into the sky, loom over our tiny human frames. Regardless of the beauty that may be offered to the viewer at first glance, there is an underlying feeling of disgust and disregard, as these manufacturing plants stand as the agents of our environment issues in this era. This initial, fleeting, sense of wonder is what draws me to these locations as a photographer. There is a type of ordered rhythm that these locations embody, a type of ceaseless production whose beauty is within the confines of its method of production. Every pipe and tube has a specific purpose, which leads to uniformity in shape and positioning. Every light is set to illuminate the space, not only for functionality, but also for security. Every road, wall and doorway is placed just so in order to maximize efficiency. These places manufacture, process, and ship raw materials in vast sums every single day all across the globe. They provide us with all the tools and materials we need to make our society function, but more importantly, they allow us to transform our surroundings into whatever we may choose. Inside, engines thump and grind at a steady pace. Conveyor belts hum as they slide down their tracks. Outside, a truck comes in through the entrance to pick up its order, followed by another, and still another after that. In following some of the same techniques laid out by photographers before me, my hope is to capture the massive amount of details and nuisances of these locations. The night skies serve as the constant throughout these images, grounding these locations in the same timeframe; at once connecting them in this fashion, but also allowing each of them to be it's own unique structure as they reach up into the black sky in varying fashions. My hope for the viewer lies in a reassessment of these locations. While they do presume, as any images of industrial locations do of this era, to speak about the connection between manufacturing and environmental issues, my hope is that they are able to offer much more. While they are connected with these problems, they are also connected with the solutions to these problems, and in this regard, deserve a second glance, and hopefully, a second evaluation of their aesthetic qualities.

Research shows the importance of a childhood home environment encouraging of creative and imaginative play. I designed a set of children's furniture that, in addition to being play toys, stimulates creativity, interactivity and understanding of design construction. When a child understands how furniture is assembled and is encouraged to be creative in play, he or she gains valuable learning experiences while having fun. Together, a child and adult can easily assemble all the pieces of furniture without any need for tools. Much like a puzzle, the child has fun assembling the furniture while, at the same time, learns valuable lessons of spatial relationships and structural stability. This also leads to an understanding of safety in play. The added element of a portable three-inch LED orb encourages interaction once all pieces are assembled. Abstract design elements were used to stimulate imagination during play. Using basic Gestalt design principles, the furniture series was constructed to not only be structural but to be beautiful in design. The curved abstract shapes encourage the child to take control and imagine the furniture as integral components of their play scene.

An exploration into the possibilities of surfaces as three dimensional forms through abstraction and movement. Through manipulation and the transition from two dimensional and three dimensional surfaces become adaptable for use as functional objects, furniture and spaces as they come together to create designed compositions based on scale, material, fabrication process and meaning. The following writing hopes to present a working statement of methodology for design across the three-dimensional design spectrum, from small objects, to furniture prototypes, to architectural and interior scale concepts.

For my thesis I plan on exploring the concepts and reasons that I make my art. I will talk about how I explore the night as my subject and the emotional response I hope to evoke with my work, and my influences and inspirations while exploring this topic. I will talk about how I try to show how in the modern world we try to take that darkness and drive it back with artificial lights intending to duplicate the world of daylight, but instead we create stages of normalcy in between the depths of the night allowing the individual imaginations of the viewer to dream into the darkness bringing their own experiences and emotions to the images and making an interactive viewing experience. By trying to recreate the mental state where our minds revert to the most primal instincts of fight or flight in the face of the unknown, despite our knowledge of what exists in the daylight, I try to reach a more primal work of art that goes beyond my early influences of the western Romantic art and show how these instincts still deeply affect us in our modern world.

Previously for my M.A., I centered on the negative side of unhealthy foods and its effects on the body. It was my shout at the top of my lungs with my fist in the air against negative consequences of those foods. Though the passionate anger still burns, my focus is now aligned with a more personal approach. For my M.F.A. thesis, I will make use of hand drawn images to tell the story of my weight loss journey. Images will be from my memories of the reality of morbid obesity. They will progress from where I started up to when I lost 125 pounds. The images will be grossly exaggerated to more strongly express my emotion. The descriptions for each image will be recorded onto the drawings. They will be placed in different areas on each of the pages to avoid repetition. The images will be in color. The color palette will be derived from the posters I created for my M.A. project [image 8]. The bright, attention grabbing color palette will prove beneficial for the urgency of my story. The completed project will be a fully illustrated, color graphic novel. In 18 months time I lost 125 pounds, mostly on my own, with very little help. The right people came along at the right times. I did not have the popular reality TV show Biggest Loser, nor any personal trainers. I spent 7 months taking a kickboxing/ body-shaping class, I read dozens of books, and I changed what I ate. I accomplished this feat the old fashioned way: I worked my ass off. One of my life goals is to help others, who are willing, loose weight and exit their private hell. I want people to know that positive, healthy change, no matter the obstacle, is obtainable.

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This thesis is founded in the positive psychological theory of gratitude, the experience of thankfulness and its benefits on both the individual and the community. My explorations via personal journaling, careful reflection, and engaging in craft, led me to cultivate a new definition for gratitude: present moment awareness. Using sheer fabric and the meditative act of embroidering, the language of gratitude was relearned and cultivated. My piece aims to incite further explorations in thanks.

Artists' book utilizing cross disciplinary media.