I have been drawing since I was three years old. I took a pony ride at the Chatsworth Cranberry Festival, and I fell in love with the little black pony I met there. When I came home that day, I immediately sat down to draw ponies with my crayons–and I never stopped. That pony ride sparked a love of both art and horses that has shaped the rest of my life.

I spent my childhood drawing horses, and as I grew up I slowly transitioned into more representational and illustrative work, drawing elements from fantasy and folklore. I enrolled at Rutgers University with the plan to major in animal science and eventually become a veterinarian, but my love of art took over and I transferred to Rutgers’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. This pushed my art in new directions, helping me to think about art in avant garde and conceptual ways. 

My senior thesis at Mason Gross was an architectural installation featuring a stained-glass window inspired by the Welsh yuletide folk tradition of the Mari Lwyd. The Mari Lwyd is a precursor to wassailing customs: a haunted white mare with ribbons and bells in her mane, who travels from house to house challenging families to a musical rhyming contest. She is creepy, beautiful, and jubilant, and these are all qualities I brought to my exhibition.

After receiving my BFA in visual arts from Mason Gross, I spent a while painting and illustrating. In 2010, I started the jewelry company Altar Egos, and I worked at creating jewelry while also taking commissions for character illustrations, portraits, and tattoo designs. In 2018, I refocused the business on painting and illustration, and I renamed it Drawing Down Lore.

My work now focuses on mythological, folkloric and Pagan themes. I love to draw figures inspired by stories from around the world–especially stories of horses–and to use my art as a way of sharing those stories with new people. To me, art is something spiritual. With Drawing Down Lore, I hope to show the magic of art and the artistry of magic.