Artist Statement: I have always felt the need to connect to people and places through art. For the past five years I have lived each winter in Cauca, Colombia foraging volcanic soils by hand and processing them into paint alongside my partner. The act of going outside to unearth rich colors from cliff sides, highways, construction sites and riverbeds in a country that continues to dazzle my senses and stretch me beyond my comfort zone, continues to lead me deeper into myself and ask: How brave are you? I seek to answer this question in my daily painting practice, confronting my edges and focusing on subjects that cause me to think, wonder, research, discover and grow.