Figurative Work

My relationship to animals, primarily horses, led me to both a pedagogical career and social justice practice. When I first began riding, I took lessons at a farm where we were encouraged to engage in their therapeutic riding program. At the age of 8 I started as a side-walker and quickly realized both the empathetic and healing power of horses. I also began to become aware of the discrepancy in the way people who were differently abled were treated, in comparison to the perceived societal norm. Through learning to ride and care for horses and other animals, I learned how to listen and how to interpret their particular and quiet language. I strive to bring this knowledge to my current work, whether as an educator inside of a classroom, or while training and riding horses. The kinetic experience of drawing and painting especially helps me to reconnect with the haptic experience that I associate with horses.