My first experience with printmaking was in high school. I had been drawing basically nonstop since the day I could hold a pencil, and this new medium worked my brain in a new way. Drawing on a page is an additive process, but relief printmaking is reductive, since you cut away the material to make the image. In my first year at Indiana University I took an intro to printmaking course which included 4 different mediums, and relief printing remains my favorite to this day. My biggest period of growth came when I applied and was accepted into the BFA printmaking program. I was constantly inspired by the work of my peers, and I was very lucky to be able to share studio space and critiques with MFA students as well as my fellow BFAs. At the same time that I was in the BFA program, I was studying digital art in the Media School at IU. I specialized in video game art, but I also did character design and concept art for an animated short film. In my senior year, I attended the Media School’s Semester in LA program, where I was hoping to get further into animation or video game art. During this period, I learned that I wanted to work on my own stuff instead of making a thousand iterations of the same thing for someone else. When the program ended, I returned to Bloomington and worked in a local art supply store. I worked alongside artists of different mediums and got to test out all kinds of art supplies, so I was moved to get back into more traditional mediums like painting, drawing and printing.