OPUS 2021: BA/BFA Senior Thesis

I am an art therapist. Art therapists work with individuals who seek to manage normal stresses of everyday life. Art can provide a safe nonverbal space to express what they are feeling. Art becomes a coping method to help individuals manage symptoms rather than let the symptoms define them. It’s typical for therapists to be supervised by other therapists so they become aware of their own blind-spots. For me, making art as therapy, makes me aware of my own vulnerabilities. Therefore, I am better equipped to help others that struggle as I did.

Fashion can define cultures as easily as a language. My art focuses on the fashion, more specifically the streetwear, that countries around the world revolve towards. I have always been interested in the streetwear that I see in anime and from skaters and thought I would bring a better look into the streetwear from other countries and how each have their own nuances.

My work plays on the idea of accessibility, interaction, and context. The foundations of modern art culture are built on a class and academic divide. My work seeks to uproot this, allowing anyone to interact with the art firstly on a visual level, then with potential for a deeper level of interaction.

The Importance of Family is about finding happiness in the every day, dealing with identity, and controlling emotions. I utilize art history, comics, playfulness, and irony. Despite today’s hostilities, I hope to get a response that makes you smile and brings you back to a pleasant experience of your own. My work is a reminder of the happiness that makes my life worth living.

Maps are how I organize my life. They give structure and guidance on where to go and what to do. Maps can be complex or very simple, and no matter how they appear, so much thought goes into the process to create something so beautiful. Working with maps over the past two years has led to my biggest passion: systems of organization.

By immersing myself in the lives of my superheroes, this allowed me, for brief periods, to escape the difficult realities of my life and escape into an alternate world. My work will shine a spotlight on many crises that currently affect us all on a global scale. These important issues include poverty, racism, discrimination, inequality, and crimes against humanity, among others. What makes someone a superhero? I have come to learn that not all superheroes wear masks!

This work is about the obsession with vintage or retro aesthetics. I, myself, am obsessed with all things vintage whether that's clothes or music, I have a fascination with it. My senior thesis show is requiring people to get comfortable with stereotypical and sometimes fun aesthetics of vintage design and culture, but then ask why they’re getting so comfortable.

My work is a reflection based upon Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s notion of a persona: the social face that we present to the world. I became interested in this idea of concealing a certain version of myself to and from others. As an art therapist in training, it was important for me to create abstracted masks so that I can confront my insecurities and fears hiding behind the mask. I use everyday
materials like buttons, thumbtacks, string, yarn, and tape because they are materials that we all have a connection to. It is my hope that as the viewer takes in this body of work that they too Reflect with me this idea of concealing behind a mask and what it means to conceal a certain version of themselves.

Data privacy issues can best be discussed, described, and visualized through absurdity in data art. Data art is beautiful and chaotic.

I illustrate to bring light to the individual. I work with each drawing to get a glimpse into someone’s unique personality. My graphic novel project encourages creativity and imagination which illuminates the colorful individuals we’ve created through bright illustrations that exhibit their character dispositions.

The Wayfinders brings MLS soccer to Milwaukee joining the Bucks and Brewers in a vibrant small market. The brand features the logo, uniforms and a fan gear collection of flags, scarves, club posters; a brand book spreads pride all across Milwaukee. Sail on!