It starts with an instinct to take your next step into simulating spaces where truth is

pursued. It starts with every first chord. And every last take. So look closer and

copy a future. The path to purpose for careers starts with city. It starts with you.

For as long as I can remember, I've always loved building things with clay. My favorite thing to

play with as a child was play-doh. I would spend an entire afternoon molding different items,

animals and people without ever getting bored. As I grew older and matured, my passion for sculpting

grew with me. By age 11, I was already taking pottery and precious metal clay classes with adults,

mostly four times my age. It didn't matter to me that most of my friends weren't interested at all

and what I did, the act of creating, glazing, firing pieces captivated my imagination. And while most

kids my age wanted a game system or trendy clothes or shoes, I was bugging my folks for my own pottery

wheel. A game from modest means. But luckily, both my parents supported my passion and by the time I was

13, my bedroom was more like an art studio that happened to have a bed in it. All my time and

effort was paying off to it and the pieces I made began to become more high quality, more often.

In fact, by my freshman year in high school, I was confident enough in my skills and I began to

look into submitting my art for contests, making pots, vases, sculptures for friends and relatives

as gifts. That was the beginning of the dark path I walked down up to this very day.

I first noticed it on a bowl that I made for my uncle for his 57th birthday when I was 14.

My dad told me his older brother had been a heavy smoker for most of his life.

But the day my now 18 year old cousin had been born, he smoked his last camel.

It wasn't looking back. I thought this was a great accomplishment. So I wanted to incorporate it into

the piece that I was making for him. I used the different colored glaze for his initials within the

bowl that I used for the rest of it. Then I designed the piece to have some cracks in it after firing.

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