“Spe -”

Hope in Latin.

“She Who Overcomes.”

The forest has always been my sanctuary, my safe place. My favorite memories as a child are of walking along the streams of the forest, surrounded by the trees, ferns and lichens that inhabit these scared spaces. It is still the same today. I can always count on it to keep me grounded, serene and protected. I am one with the earth and she is one with me.

I am obsessed with making something solid out of air and fluff. For me the process represents what it is to be transformed by life and to show that beauty can come from the darkest, messiest places. In Spe I am laying the past to rest and giving a visual representation of the voice I lost years ago. Spe represents life and growth as well as wisdom, power and prosperity.

In the past I have always drawn and painted, something I am still very passionate about. However, since attending AU Arts I have discovered a passion for all things Fibre, which I will major in. Therefore, my chosen project is the Mixed Media Paper Tree Sculpture. Spe has been shaped by life and made more beautiful by the reality of its existence. Her branches are rooted in the past, here in the present, and reaching for the stars. I am that tree. I have been made stronger and more resilient by everything I have been through. My struggles with mental health have helped shape who I am as a person and as an artist. I would not be, could not be, who I am without the events that shaped my life. My practice would not exist without out these experiences, both the good and the bad. So, for everything, I can finally say, I am grateful and wouldn’t change a thing. It is my intention to leave the world a better place than what I found it, through my art in of which I give so much of myself.