Throughout my life, I've always been drawn to the arts. Although it may ring as cliché, I feel that the arts provide us with an outlet to take the experiences of being human and express them in deeply meaningful and connective ways. The arts allow us to transcend from ourselves and gives us the chance to create something "bigger". One thing I really love about the arts is the diversity of mediums that emotion, experience, and the psyche can manifest into: whether it is a song that seems to hold a special place in your memory, or an abstract painting you once saw in a gallery and haven't forgotten about since. Creating and consuming art is the glue that holds us together as a species capable of existential thought and search for deeper meaning. It empowers us as individuals and unites us collectively. 

Taking part in The Creative Process allows me to gain both professionally and personally enriching knowledge. On one hand, being part of a company that lives and breathes everything having to do with the arts would be a huge step towards laying the foundation for my upcoming career goals. Being behind the scenes would allow me to gain a practical understanding of how a creative business operates and what that actually looks like from a firsthand point of view. I believe I would gain experience that would be game-changing when applying myself in future endeavors. On the other hand, being part of a company that is oriented around forming and supporting a community of artists is something I find very desirable on a personal level. I haven't had many opportunities to be part of a community like that and it's something I've wanted for a long time. Having the opportunity to learn from and interact with other creatives is both energizing and exciting.

Regardless of where life takes us throughout the remainder of this year, I really want to push myself to stay in tune with my creative passions. I want to keep both my long term and short term goals of being a social media manager/content creator and ultimately creative director in my near-sight. I want to work on staying consistent with some kind of creative outlet, whether an internship, a class, or various personal projects. By the time I graduate in December, I want to look back and say that I wasn't pulled away from my creative passions for any reason.

Since the lockdown happened, I have tried to take advantage of the unexpected downtime by working on a couple personally enriching creative projects. Because social interactions are limited, I have been passing the time with my core group of girlfriends. I've been shooting a lot of film photography of our times together (hence how I gained my reputation in the group as the designated photographer). I've been working on practicing nighttime "event" film photography and to capture 'candid' in-the-moment type shots. I have also collaborated with my sister as an amateur 'art director' and done a couple digital & film photoshoots of her which turned out really beautiful and fun. I started learning to shoot film about a year ago, fell in love with it, and have since been building my photography portfolio. Additionally, I've been doing some digital art/graphic design pieces for my personal social media accounts. I'm newer to Photoshop, but working on these has really helped me get familiarized with it in a fun way. I'm very interested in fashion, streetwear-influenced designs in particular, and have been working on putting together mockups for graphic tees with my original designs.

As for the future, I have a semester left of school and plan to graduate this December. I was previously supposed to take part in a work study program through my university and spend my last semester in LA. However, due to the circumstances of COVID, I will remain in Austin. After this semester, I hope to make a move to a 'creative-hub' city either here in the states or internationally. After visiting Berlin, Copenhagen, and Paris last summer, I've planned to eventually make the move out to one of those cities in the next 1-3 years. I've been studying German and working on increasing my fluency (Berlin has a very special place in my heart). As for the immediate future, I hope to continue developing and diversifying my creative portfolio. I plan to learn more Adobe Creative Suite programs such as InDesign and Illustrator. Improving my hard software skills will enable me to execute my creative visions more seamlessly. I also want to keep pursuing fashion design as a hobby and learn to use a sewing machine. 

Because I have a variety of creative interests, I went ahead and attached three samples of some recent works. The first is one of my first graphic design collages that I made from a test shot I took on my digital camera when I first got it. I ended up taking a picture of the camera's photo preview on my phone and really liked the way that looked. I found an old Gucci ad on Pinterest and chopped that up to make a digital collage with a self portrait/fashion editorial feel. The second is a mixed media motion graphic gif that I made more recently. I used an analog photo I took while at a Tame Impala show and chopped up some stills and motion graphics I found posted by other users on Pinterest as well. I really liked the idea of incorporating some kind of looping flow of movement into this piece because it represented the inspiration I drew from the feel and energy of the show. The third is a photo I snapped on my film camera in the subway the first night we arrived in Paris. I wanted to include that one because it's one of my favorite photos I've taken since I first started shooting film. It's simplistic and captures an otherwise ordinary or mundane routine-activity in a unique tone and mood due to the turnout of the lighting. 

(Link to the looping gif): https://vimeo.com/439658107