Bio
I’m an emerging new media artist based in Chicago. My work covers a range of topics in computational media, including responsive environments; augmented reality; virtual worlds; interactive narrative; sacred computing; and the convergence of art, technology, and social justice.
I’m finishing up my undergraduate work at Columbia College Chicago, where I’ll be graduating as one of the first students from the innovative new Bachelors of Fine Arts program in Interactive Arts + Media. This fall, I start work in the MFA in Studio Art program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I’m also studying performance with the Neo-Futurists, trying my hand at making music, and gearing up for the next big adventure.
I love good food, coffee, beer, music, literature, film, and old episodes of Doctor Who. Not necessarily in that order.
Artist’s Statement
My work draws from an internal conflict between Ecstacy and Transcendance- a desire to embrace the world of the senses at odds with the desire to rise above it. Similarly, my work stands at the intersection between Perception and Experience. Our Perception informs our Experience, which in turn defines our World. In this way, I see the role of the Artist as akin to that of the Mage or Alchemist, whose inquiry into the workings of the World precipitates Change. Through work that explores, hacks, and mutates Perception, I create art that, for myself and the viewer, changes the World.
My recent work explores the idea of Sacred Computing- the use of computers and digital media in the context of religious worship, meditation, and spiritual communion. My approach to this idea is informed in large part by my background in Western mysticism and Earth-Centered Spirituality. One of the central themes of Western Mystic traditions is the idea that individuals can wield great power and influence over their environment- an idea that strongly influences my use of interactivity as a formal element.
