HI!
I am 24 years old and currently based in Northern Colorado. I have spent the past several years working for different outfits and ranches while also attending school. I graduated from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California in the spring of 2023 with a degree in Fine Arts- Graphic Design. I grew up on a little piece of property in Loveland, Colorado surrounded by old barns, fences, and big poplar trees. My siblings and I were 4H kids and were always raising pigs for our yearly projects. Of course I was the kid obsessed with horses and that obsession has never really left. Much of my childhood I was barefoot and in a bikini while running around an arena bareback and bridleless on a horse that was quite young. I don’t think I ever was obsessed with art in the way I was with horses but my creativity shined (or attempted to shine) in sewing projects, tree carvings, and windchimes I often made out of found items around the property. It wasn’t till late highschool that I even dug into any artistic talent I may have had.
There was a lot of heartache and grief in my highschool years so with my chance to leave the world I grew up in, I found myself deeply immersed in the surf culture of California. Now, I grew up in a family of surfers and skaters so not everything was unfamiliar but Santa Barbara was for sure not Loveland. For four years my life consisted around school, surfing, and working for Los Padres Outfitters. I truly don’t know when I slept out there… I was constantly running around that whole county whether it was with a stock trailer filled with mules or a truck with wet wetsuits hucked in the corner of the bed. I am beyond thankful for the experiences and education California gave me.
One summer during school I went out to Colorado and very unexpectedly ended up on a cow calf operation in Western Colorado. It was there where I refound my appreciation for where I grew up and a new inspiration for who I wanted to be. I spent many months on that forest permit learning how to protect and manage those mama cows and their babies. From there I only wanted to know more and more about the balance of conservation, ranching, and life. After that summer, I was enrolled in numerous printmaking classes where many of the images and themes from that ranch found their ways into my work. For once I finally felt like I found a medium and theme that was the best showcase of my creativity. It felt legit. I leaned into printmaking and found satisfaction in the physical process of what I was making.
Since that experience in Western Colorado I have worked for different ranches and outfits throughout Colorado, California, and Wyoming. I have loved working with all stock but especially the mules. Packing has been a big part of my life whether it is packing out an elk in a snow storm or packing to the next pool in the river to jump in. It has opened a lot of doors for me as well. Now days I am often jumping between states for work whether it is creative work or horseback work. It is all quite the journey… messy, chaotic, but the life is so beautiful.
