A bio (I wrote it myself)

Most people write their own bio and then… stick it in third person as if someone else had written it for them. This implies a kind of embarrassment around owning up to one’s life choices and achievements.

I want you to know why I chose to do what I do, and how I got here. I wrote this bio myself.

When I was a kid I recall spending most of my time experiencing the world around me (we lived in a forested part of America) as beautiful. What I wanted was to take this feeling and turn it into something. Nobody had ever taught me a thing about art. Nevertheless, I made sculptures, ran around with a camera, drew pictures, wrote in my diary, dug time capsules into the soil and - above all - stood in front of imaginary audiences pretending to be whomever I wanted to be (including, simply, 10 year old me.)

It was not about the end product.

It was not about getting it perfect.

It was not about receiving feedback.

It was not about finishing something.

It was not about them.

By my early 30’s things had changed quite drastically. I had graduated as a ‘Master of Theatre’ and was determined to ‘make it’ in ‘the scene.’ If all those years of training had taught me one thing it was that it’s important to develop a signature style and then get famous for it.

So I made a whole bunch of work and had a secret agenda of having it meet the expectations of what was ‘en vogue’ at the time. Surprise, surprise: My work didn’t speak to anyone because my work didn’t speak to me.

But what was much worse still: I lost my creative drive.

My real career started the day I stopped trying to be an artist.

I remember that day. I was sitting on a chicken bus in Nicaragua during the year I took off from my career. I decided to start playing again instead of producing. Since then I only make what I FEEL like making, because I simply don’t care about anything else. And the beauty is that when I feel something, you do too. It has very little to do with it being ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ I has very little to do with art.

As a guide, it is nothing less than thrilling to see people get out of their ideas around artistry and into literally anything they want! My passion is to create spaces where you can play and ‘mess it up’ as much as possible. Because I believe the feeling that comes with this might just be the most important reason for doing it in the first place. I used to think I had to make something nobody else had made. Now I want to make what makes me feel good, and I want to help you do the same.