School: School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts
Degree: Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art
Why did you choose Tufts?
My background is in printmaking, but when the sculpture professor interviewed me here, she saw the sculptural aspects of my work. That was different from the conversations I was having with most art schools I was applying to. Tufts saw something in my work that no one else really did. And now, most of the work I do is three-dimensional, sculptural stuff.
What's been the focus of your study?
I’ve been doing a lot of collaboration with different community groups. For example, two other students and I created an event in East Boston with City Life/Vida Urbana and Eastie Farms where we taught people about printmaking and how it has been used for a long time in activist movements. They used these techniques to create art for protesting housing evictions during the pandemic. I enjoy showing people how important printmaking is as an art form.
What most surprised you about yourself during your time here?
My ability to adapt and respond to things. I guess we all come in here with a mindset of things we're going to make and things we’re going to talk about. But being here during COVID, I could see a lot of people were having trouble adapting the way they work because they didn’t want to fail. But I embrace failure. Because of that, it just let me expand my practice in a whole lot of different directions. I think people appreciated the fact that I wasn't trying to make something that was the same as what I was doing before.
“In 10 years, I will be …”
I hate planning because the second you plan for something, the second that you expect to do something, then it just flops. So, I guess in 10 years I will be deciding what I'll be probably not be doing the next 10 years. But I will still be making art somewhere.
This profile originally appeared as part of the series “Profiles in Inspiration: Commencement 2022 Spotlights."
