I’m AJ, a multimedia artist based in Somerville, Massachusetts. I grew up filling sketchbooks in my free time, graduated to extensive art journals in high school, and finally got to learn more about my media of choice while studying in college, first at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and then at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning (DAAP). At DAAP, I fell in love with printmaking, a practice which has come with me to every iteration of a home studio.
Since graduating college, I have had the opportunity to work on two murals, one as an assisting artist and one on my own. On a smaller scale, I continue my art practice as a part of my day-to-day life; I spend my time binding journals by hand, sewing and collaging with found materials, and, of course, doodling construction vehicles and unicorns for the four-year-old I care for daily.
My work is marked by a love for the whimsy and colorful, the everyday tidbits fashioned into something vibrant and spectacular. I love to create collages and bound books from found materials, and the ongoing use of recycled media is essential to my work. I have extensive experience with sewing and textile arts, collage, and printmaking; I’m comfortable with colored pencils, markers, graphite, and more; I’ve played my hand at most digital drawing applications.
To me, the creation of art is a daily adventure into new ways of making, creating, and understanding. Every moment I spend creating art is an opportunity to shift the lens through which I see the world, and to share with the world a part of me.
For work, I am a childcare provider and yoga teacher. I spend my summers in the northern woods of Wisconsin at a girls’ residential summer camp, where I supervise a staff of nine trip leaders in leading backcountry exploration trips for campers ages nine to fifteen. Outside of work and art, I like to read, go for long walks, and try new recipes.
