I am a 30-something artist originally born in the Netherlands, whose family moved to America when I was just 3. My life has been surrounded by various mediums of art and artist who have all encouraged, inspired, and fostered my creativity.

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 As a kid I always loved video games, eventually being enrolled into a video games art summer program hosted by iD Tech camps at Villanova University, where I received my first taste of the gaming arts and was inspired to start pursuing it as a career path. After graduating from Garnet Valley High School in Pennsylvania, I immediately enrolled at Fullsail University in Orlando, Florida for an accelerated 2-year bachelor’s degree program; starting with early summer enrollment a few days after finishing high school. There I honed my skills toward being a “professional” artist and learned the game design production pipeline and how to develop art assets for video games.

 

After a very intense two years, I graduated with a degree in Video Game Art, specializing largely in Environmental Art and creative team leadership. While there I managed to be the lead artist on an awesomely creative final video game project, present publicly on behalf of our team, and speak in a Q&A panel for incoming university students about being at the end of the graduation process. Coming home and trying to navigate where to take my skills next… I decided to attend Deleware County Community College to study an architecture degree and focusing my time on some independent and freelance game design work, teaching the very game design classes for iD Tech Camps that got me started a few short years prior. I began to learn and develop my own lines of jewelry designs and other forms/mediums of art.

 

After a short time in the military (National Guard Infantry) getting injured and then being retired, I returned and helped found a nonprofit organization for metal clay jewelry artists called "The Impact Artist Project". Here I was able to put my design skills to work, creating all of the graphic assets, design direction briefs, and website development. I eventually left that project and started working at CornerStone Software Development Inc. I stayed at CSDI for about 3 years working on a large variety of 3D interactive demos to show off new upcoming technology that was being developed by clients such as Qualcomm, Intelsat, OneWeb and others. These were interesting opportunities to get a glimpse of where technology is going while challenging myself to go outside the comfort zone of my normal skills, as a generalist has to wear many hats and do a bit of anything. I am now pursuing my next opportunities and am excited to see where that leads.

 

I have now finished a new bachelor's degree in Psychology and Business at Mars Hill University; while simultaneously studying Robotics engineering and Mechatronics at Mayland Community College. Spent much of that time developing my Watercolor painting style and public performance practice, Starting and presenting business concepts, and creating more computer graphic experiences. 

As an extra job, I've walked the halls of a state prison, taking on the responsibilities and uniform of a Correctional Officer... This has offered my creative eye yet another set of perspectives on the complex spectrum of humanity. 

Always blending my many talents, experiences, perspectives, and skills into ever-evolving unique expressions.

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Every road leads to the next . . .