Sky's The Limit

Art & Design has played a crucial part in my life. I am and always have been intrigued by bold colors, beautiful interiors, fine works of art and great music. I encompass an appreciation for all types of artwork, even if I am not fond of it. By the time I was two years old I knew all of my colors and was constructing masterpieces with blocks. My family and I grew up with not much money so I learned to keep amused by drawing. My mother was my first art teacher. I thought that she was the greatest artist in the world. She taught me how to draw correct human anatomy (for a 4 year old). And by the time kindergarten came along I was the hub of attention during “drawing time” since I knew how to draw people and the other children didn’t.

My gift was not only in drawing, but pretty much anything that had to do with being creative. I loved going to school and playing with blocks with the boys instead of house with the girls. The blocks gave me more freedom to do what I wanted; build what I wanted. Throughout elementary school I won awards frequently for my artwork. I was named “Artist of the Week” several times, and received numerous other district art awards for children. Late in elementary school my parents purchased an alto saxophone for me. It became my life once I figured out how to play the notes. I invested a lot of my time and creativity into becoming a great sax musician. Unfortunately, one day I came home and my saxophone was missing. My parents had to sell it so that we could afford food. From then on my creativity went back to drawing.

By the time Junior High came around I found myself taking art very seriously and started researching and experimenting with different types of art and mediums. I figured out how to paint perfect portraits in 8th grade via acrylic paint on my own. Freshman year of high school I began taking art majors classes and realized actual competition in the forms of art; I was surrounded by other exceptionally talented artists. Being in that class made me realize what route I wanted my future to head. We were told to use mixed media to create a small Studio Apartment for a project. I used anything and everything that I could to create my studio and it came out amazing. It hit me that my real love was for beautiful interiors. It made sense thanks to building by means of blocks, arranging Barbie’s Dream home, and my love for colors and perfection. Senior year I participated in an extremely competitive college level art class and obtained 3 college credits. I also took Drafting 1, 2 & 3 and Architectural Design to help prepare for Interior Design. I also finished my senior year with two scholarships, both in art (2004!); which made my family proud. I was going to be the first to attend college and reach for the sky.

Summer 2004, my family and I moved from New Jersey to Tampa, a few days after my graduation date. I began searching for a job immediately and soon found that Rainbow Art & Design was hiring. I obtained an interview and brought my high school portfolio. I was given the opportunity to work with much older coworkers. I was fresh meat straight out of high school at the age of 18, and everyone I worked with was 30 and over. Rainbow Art was pretty fascinating; I learned tons of things. We did mass productions of acrylic paintings for sale in retail stores. However, I wasn’t allowed to be creative whatsoever. We had to duplicate paintings and it soon became dull to me.

Summer of 2005, I began my journey of becoming an Interior Designer at the Art Institute of Tampa. I didn’t realize how difficult it was going to be! I knew that I wanted to be an Interior Designer for a long time, but didn’t actually take into account exactly what INTERIOR DESIGN was. I met Tom Szumlic, (before he was the Director of Interior Design!) and really appreciated his way of thinking and opinions. He has had a huge role in molding me into the designer that I am today; he has always been there for me, with crazy insights and interesting-inspiring ways of putting things.

In 2007 I started working at State Farm with a temporary position entering data into Microsoft Excel. It’s now 2011, and I am still employed there, but am now the Director of Special Projects. I worked really hard to obtain my title there which has been centered around my creative strengths. I create and design tons of items for the office, plan & organize events, manage a huge database, and am also in charge of our social networking, among many other little things I do! With this job I have also been able to maintain above a 3.0 gpa at the Art Institute, which I am very proud of!

I can’t believe I am still typing! - I also can’t believe I am finishing school! I AM LESS THAN THREE MONTHS AWAY FROM A BFA IN INTERIOR DESIGN! WOOOOHOOO! I DID IT! I have had the craziest, most emotional, hardest time trying to obtain this degree! There has been tears, laughter, and anger! (Thanks Bill, lol) You can imagine how proud my parents are of me. I am the first to go to college and graduate with a degree in my family. I found my dream and have been working towards and molding it since I was young. I have seen my parents really, really, really struggle and know that I can’t be put into that position. I have too much creativity in my blood, too many minds to inspire, and way too many things to buy! haha! 

I am beginning an amazing internship at the David A. Straz Center for Performing Arts February 3rd, and I am overjoyed! I will be working under direct supervison of Eric Dillner, Artistic/Producing Director of In-House Productions. This internship is giving me a great step in the door to follow my ideal career path of using my interior design degree in entertainment. I have been inspired by Tim Burton & James Cameron and I would love to someday be a production designer! I want to be the person responsible for the overall look of an event such as films, tv programs or music videos. We will see. The sky’s the limit! Right? I think so.