Artist Statement
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My acrylic paintings are my chicken quesadilla. They are reliable, familiar, and
where I first felt confident making decisions. It’s what I kept going back to
because I knew it would work. My oil paintings are also chicken quesadillas—
but slightly more high-maintenance. They take longer, require patience, and
require me to slow down and actually think about what I’m doing. My sculptural work is my Cheesy Gordita Crunch—layered, a little chaotic, and more complex than it needs to be, but that’s part of the appeal. It pushes me out of the flat surface and into something more physical and unpredictable. My prints are my Baja Blast, a little unexpected and outside of what I thought I would like, but now something I keep coming back to. And my ceramics—especially my Taco Bell bag—are my Mexican pizza, bringing different elements together into something that feels both structured and experimental.
In the end, this work isn’t really about Taco Bell, and it’s not really about suddenly becoming a completely different person either. I didn’t wake up one day with new taste buds, and I didn’t instantly become comfortable making art. I just became more open—to trying something new, to not knowing what I’m doing, and to being okay with that. This body of work reflects that shift. It’s about realizing that sometimes the thing you avoided ends up being exactly what you needed—you just had to be willing to order it.
My art practice has started to feel a lot like ordering at Taco Bell, which is funny because I used to avoid it completely. I didn’t like tacos, I didn’t know what I’d order, and it all felt like too much. At the same time, I was on a completely different path—I was a biology major for four years, doing work that felt structured, predictable, and safe. Switching into art education felt like a complete 180. It was uncomfortable at first, like ordering something I had already decided I wouldn’t like. But somewhere along the way, something shifted—and for the better. I realized I actually enjoyed it.
People say your taste buds change every seven years, but that’s not really true. It’s less about your body changing and more about becoming open to new experiences. That’s what happened with both Taco Bell and my art practice. Nothing magically changed overnight—I just stopped assuming I wouldn’t like something and gave it a chance.