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What brought you to CIA?
I chose to study at CIA because it’s one of the few schools that offer biomedical art as an undergraduate program. It was a really unique program that combines my interest in art and science.

What processes do you use for making your work?
Most of the work I make is done digitally, so either painting or sketching or drawing in Photoshop or Illustrator. Before I came here I was a little bit familiar with Photoshop, but hadn’t done any digital painting. I feel I’ve progressed pretty well in the past couple of years.

How do you feel about your studio area at school?
Having my own studio space is great because when I’m working at school for a whole day, it’s nice to have a home base or a mother ship to go back to, either to get my work done or just rest and recharge.

Besides your major, what other classes stand out as favorite?
One of my favorite classes was a bookmaking class. It’s something I’d never done before. In every class, we were making one, two or three books per day as well as our individual projects, and it was really challenging. It’s something I enjoy doing on my own right now.

Have you had any internships?
Our sophomore year, we were introduced to several projects through the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. We had a project with the invertebrate zoology department, and that was something I particularly had a lot of fun doing. My junior year, I pursued an internship at the museum. At that time we didn’t have a formal internship set up at the museum, so I talked to my department head and the museum and the school to see if I could set up a program where I could work at the museum and get school credit. And they said we’ll do that. I created illustrations based on new species of praying mantises. During the summer, I also continued my internship. I worked there about a year, which is nice, because I can say I have a year of experience there when I look for jobs.

What do you like about the CIA community environment?
CIA is a small school, which is one of the things I liked about it. I like that I know pretty much everyone or at least I see them often. I don’t spend an hour with them in a class, I spend pretty much the whole day working with them, so it’s easier to develop closer bonds and relationships.

How have you been involved in Student Life at CIA?
We have a brand new theater with a huge screen. Student life likes to do movies there for the students, so we help put on movies, and we give them free popcorn and drinks. It’s really nice to have a movie theater at the school for free.