Being in a remote, beautiful, and unique setting would provide anyone with the perfect inspiration for art, and that is exactly what growing up in the Marshall Islands gave me. Moving here also provided me with something just as important however: a chance to improve my skills and knowledge for an already developed passion of the subject. My relationship with art offers me a connection between myself and my home. Thus, much of my art contains island themes including tropical plant, animal, and ocean life, beach landscape, and the various Pacific island cultures that I experienced and took part in.

In addition to the Marshall Islands, I also owe much of my art interest to my passionate art teachers throughout grade school. As a result, I have always wished to become a K-12 art teacher. I am currently studying art education as well as studio art at the University, and as soon as I graduate I hope to find a job back home in the Marshall Islands, or at least close to it. As a future art teacher, I have the need and desire to give to children the same passion and inspiration that my teachers gave to me. I strongly uphold the belief that every person has the ability to make art, which is a point that I have every intention of passing on to my future students. My students will also understand that art has the potential to express and communicate on a level that words, numbers, and other means cannot. I want my students to use art as a motivation for self-expression and self-identification, and I will also use art in the classroom to build every-day skills for my students such as problem-solving, abstract thinking, patience, questioning, etc. Above all, my students will know that art molds to their individual needs and interests, and through it, they will gain a critical understanding of the self, the world, and life in general.