Image Student Degree Bachelor of Fine Arts Areas of Study Drawing and Painting Location Champaign-Urbana, Illinois Describe the work you submitted for merits. My work has an emphasis on figuration and seems to have settled on self-portraiture as a common motif. I like to interpret (and re-interpret, in the best situations,) tactile and metaphysical aspects of the body, especially the discrepancies we artists are able to create between representation and reality. What's next for your practice? Anything you're really excited to make? I'm excited to make big, massive, large, giant, enormous, huge, vast, gargantuan, sizable paintings. :) Why did you decide to come to MCAD? I wanted to pursue art in a larger city like Minneapolis, and I felt MCAD had a strong community of artists willing to provide resources and help each other! What's the best thing you've got from MCAD's free shelf? Tragically, due to COVID restrictions, I haven't been able to experience the free shelf in its full glory, but recently someone gave me a little blue dinosaur figurine, which will join my other 4 dinosaur figurines. Anything you're obsessed with at the moment? Garish OSIRIS skate shoes / bringing back seapunk and vaporwave. What inspires you? Dirt, birds, worms, rocks, friends, enemies, colors that induce eyeburn, colors that put you to sleep, distorted Russian witch-house rap, Forever 21 in 2013, cats, dogs, rabbits, graffiti made by 12-year-old boys, video games I've never played, the Midwest, mice, wolves, Doc Martens, baguette with balsamic and olive oil, snakes, spiders, and foxes. Do you have a favorite piece you've made? Describe it! Not that I would ever show anyone, but I still like the overly dramatic goth, accessorized, and multicolored cats I would draw in Microsoft Paint when I was nine. Remember your roots <3 Website Work Link to Work Detail News 28 July 20222022 Merit Scholarship Recipient: Sage Phillips View all news