The African American Cultural Center

Artist Statement

My work thrives on sculptures, portraits, drawings, paintings and illustrations. Art interested me from the early age of nine. I would copy works of art and other artists. This practice enabled me to see and visualize different objects, people, and the environment. Later on, I decided to pursue art as a career. During my education at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, I studied the masters; Michelangelo, Degas as well as the Italian Renaissance, Picasso, Henry Moore, and architecture from different periods. I also admire other artists inlcuding Romare Bearden, Augusta Savage, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, and Edmonia Lewis. These great masters of art influence and motivate me; my work is an expression of the masters that have come and gone. I have great respect for the past, and in my work I like to bridge the past with the future. Today, I believe that art has lost some of its greatest fundamental qualities. When a viewer looks at my art, I hope that it not only reminds him or her of previous great artists, but also that something different, new, and refreshing is revealed.