Image Alumni ’95 Education BFA in Drawing and Painting Current Career Portrait Artist in Photography Location Minneapolis, Minnesota In a couple sentences, describe what you do for work and how you feel about it. I'm a portrait artist in photography. I'm very happy with the title and job I’ve created for myself. How did you get your job? I started shooting portraits back at MCAD and never really stopped. What was your major and how did you choose it? Was it the right choice? Drawing and painting; I wanted to live in the darkroom and still have history in fine art drawing and painting. Who was your favorite teacher? Rik Sferra. Best thing you ever got/saw on the free shelf? The free shelf wasn't there yet during my time at MCAD. But once I found an amazing painting in the dumpster after cleaning out studios at the end of the year. I framed it and hung it on my wall. Years later, Matt Wacker was at my house and asked where I got the painting, I responded with "in the MCAD dumpster years ago." He then told me that it was his painting, and it was of his friend Maddy with a band-aid on her nose. Name your one biggest takeaway from MCAD? My largest inspiration I took away from MCAD was the freedom to create and access to anything and everything to do so. What inspires you/your work? Everything inspires me and it changes often. Right now it’s neon and drawings because I’ve been spending time with those artists. What advice do you have for current MCAD students? The most important thing to me would be to remember that there are no rules. Especially if you tend to question things often, just remember there are no rules. How do you network yourself and your art? I network at many levels: fairs, social media, clients, shows, parties, openings. Do the Twin Cities offer many opportunities for creatives? Minneapolis offeres so many—the main one being accessibility. Current obsession? Neon and how the lighting changes printed images on canvas. Website