As a child, making arts and crafts was a way to pass the time and make something.  When my family moved to Florida I found myself in a new environment and immediately learned that I was different. I was alien to the majority of the people around me. Within a year I was blessed with my art teacher, Mrs. Houdeshell.  She introduced me to all art mediums and I quickly learned that creating art produced attention. I gained acceptance, admiration, and praise for my creative class assignments and artwork.  In my preteen head I concluded that with paint, brushes, clay, images, and bright colors I could inform and tell others of the place I was from.  As a consequence I would no longer feel alienation. I thought, “people just don’t know where I am from! I will paint it, sculpted it, and I will dance it”.  At the same time I replenished the empty space inside, longing for family members, festive holidays and parties, swimming in the warm ocean, speaking and being understood.  My new language, loved by all, became the tactility of the paint and the possibilities of color that produced an image of both physical and emotion experiences.  Sense, art has become a way to continue to revisit moments, experiences, and celebrations of the world I am situated in.

I need to remove myself from the world to situate myself in it.  It is like praying in church, going to a Holy place, a quiet space to release and recharge the soul.  My experience as a human being from a small festive warm island and my need to share its warmth comes out through the brush.