Jill

My blogs

Occupation	Artist
Location	Minneapolis, MN, United States
Introduction	I often used to say to myself "I'm studying art and I'm going to use it in x" -- trying to figure out what x would be. Social work. Teaching. Refugee camps. I'd spent years working in social services: serving the homeless in Washington, DC; volunteering at a health clinic in an African village; and helping to build an AIDS prevention program. Then in 2006 I spent a month studying art with Russian masters in St. Petersburg, and something changed in me: as I commuted along ancient canals and studied in cluttered studios of Russian artists, I no longer needed to know what I was doing this for -- I simply knew I had to do it. I became more serious about art training. I moved to Colorado for my father (diagnosed with late stage cancer), and once there discovered a classical atelier in Boulder. I lost my dad; I stayed for the school. I lost the school a year later, and uprooted to study in Minneapolis. The path taken to reach this point has been long, winding, and often burdened. But this same path has taught me who I am: I am an artist. I am driven to serve those in need. And creating art -- and through it telling our communal stories -- is what I need to do to contribute to the world.