Art affects my community in so many ways! Art empowers. Art promotes social connection. Art gives voice for social justice issues. Art engages and connects people. Art can act as a repository for collective memory or as dream of beautiful futures. Art beautifies and encourages communities to take care of their surroundings. Art has been shown to significantly affect economic growth and quality of life in a positive way. The value of the arts and creative sector is estimated to contribute more than 4% of our national GDP.

Art in an interesting "industry", or as I prefer to call it an interesting journey. In a "regular" business, your creation of your product is driven strictly by customer demand. In art, your creation of your product is driven by your soul. You can't NOT create if the market dries up, you have to keep creating, not only because your soul dictates, but in order to continue to progress in your innovation and evolution as an artist. So my advice is to keep creating no matter what, don't stop. Art as a business has a long pipeline, so do the work daily, stay disciplined and work regularly no matter what demand for your art is, and keep the faith that in time, it all pays benefits, both spiritually and career-wise. Also, always "pay it forward".

My work has allowed me to actively support organizations and matters that are important to me. Themes that are significant to me include land and wildlife stewardship, preservation of open space for all, local economic development, animal welfare, climate legislation, arts, heritage and culture, and diversity and inclusion. I find it immensely rewarding to be able to use my artistic skills to support non-profits and organizations such as Land Trust of the Treasure Valley, Conservation Voters of Idaho, the Garden City Place Making Fund, Working Dogs for Conservation, Dog is My Copilot, The Boise Hive, animal rescue organizations, national parks and preserves, etc...

Oh my, I learned so much!! But the most important thing that I was reminded of while painting my mural was how kind people are, how willing to help, how great of a community we have. That, and don't schedule to paint when it's 100 degrees out...LOL.

"At first blush, I wanted to be painting bigger but don't have an easel sufficiently large for bigger canvases. The GCPF opportunity came up at a time when I was yearning for a larger project. It was a big jump up in project size to do a mural, and I was intimidated to begin with.

On a more intellectual level, I'm fascinated by the interconnectedness of art and artists and saw the placemaking projects as a way to develop the local arts economy. Why hire artists from out of state for local murals when we have so many great Treasure Valley artists? I love the concept of ""see one, do one, teach one"" as a way to pay it all forward and help encourage our collaborative arts economy."

Oh, this is hard to choose, but either freshly harvested blackberries from my garden or Lindt 95% dark chocolate. If I'm being really bad, it's my mother-in-law's chocolate sheet cake.