Deaf since birth, I have loved art ever since I can remember. My mom was an artist. She always supported my passion in art. She always gave me materials to work with. It was always different media. Painting, drawing, printing, carving, ceramics, etc. My mom gave me my first camera when I was around 9-10 years old. That was when I fell in love with photography. When I took photography in high school. My mom decided to take up photography, too. After she was done with her photography class she said to me, “you have a better eye in photography than me. Don’t ever stop taking pictures.” I never stopped – it was an expensive hobby – buying film then having my film developed. I got married and had kids. I never stopped taking pictures of my sons and things I see. My passion in art was put on the shelf for many years even though I did invest in a digital camera because I wanted to make memories with my family. When my oldest son graduated from high school. I decided to go back to school to major in graphic design. I signed up for digital photography classes. It was the best thing I ever did! I learned how to edit my pictures and make my pictures look much better! I met Nancy Rourke at Ravenwood Art Walk in Chicago in 2014 (or 2015) – she encouraged me to join De’VIA central on facebook after I showed her my sketch book. I decided to challenge myself with DeVIA 28 days challenge – from there I decided to go back to many different medium as I did when I was younger with my mom — painting, drawing, etc. Photography remains to be my number one passion in art.
