My work here is meant to take a hardship of mine and turn it to something positive,a tool to grow on, bring voice to myself and help add awareness to others like me. In the 6th grade I was diagnosed with dyslexia. This affects all forms of communication in myself. I think with myself and others with learning disabilities, if not given the right opportunities , it can spiral into other problems such as poor self esteem, mental illness, lack of education, and dead end jobs also what I like to call modern day slavery. How many times have you seen someone quickly judged for their poor grammar or someone taken advantage of because they may not understand what is being presented, or don't have the ability to voice feedback. I think this is a hard to pinpoint form of discrimination. A lot of what I hear is that we are mistaken for being stupid and lazy, but that is far from the truth. In fact I think we work harder to make up for the skills we don't have. I could write a book about my struggles of going from a general house painter, to faux and decorative painter to finally being given the title local artist in Missoula, Montana. I think people light up when they are given knowledge about things they are naturally talented and interested in. It took me a long time to get to this point, but I like to think God just had to take me through a different route. I like to take the skills of the trades that I was taught over the years and turn them into a means of self expression and a relief outlet. Being interested in building restoration I have fallen in love with stucco and paint recipes used over the past hundred years and make
anything from modern abstract landscapes, sculpture and what you see before you. These pieces I hope will draw the person in and make them curious to the meaning and attempt to read what what is in front of them only to find out they cannot and have a moment of what it is like to be dyslexic.