Artist Statement

When I was beginning this project, I had not a clue what images I was going to use or even what Alyssa story to tell. I knew in my mind that my artwork had to look wild and crazy because that's how her personality is. I started off with the long boarding story and this image is by far my favorite, mostly because it looks like something I've never done before.

It took me a bit of time to decide what other Alyssa stories to tell through my artwork, but one at a time they hit me. Where she is wearing the tribal head dress is the image symbolizing how I remember meeting her for the first time. A casual hang out in our living room ended with her in that thing. Also, in the top left corner is Alyssa looking ferocious in a lion hat the last day I saw her after her accident. Once again, she was just chilling in her room all alone in a wild hat.

I was at a lost for how to portray my final image because the story is long and must be told in order to understand. Basically, Alyssa went out to Q Bar for the first time with people she had never gone out with before. She drank long island iced teas, blacked out, and was found on the side of High Street by a random couple sent from heaven. They called me from her phone, I begged them to bring her to me on Summit because, of course, I too was very intoxicated and had no way to go get her. They did so, I gave them $20, Alyssa accused them of kidnapping her when being carried out of the car, and I spent the rest of night chasing the hysterical girl around my friend's house trying to make her go to bed and making sure she didn't pee on the floor. I was just glad she was safe.

What I did not realize about my projects until I was finished was how the three connect in their own way. The tribal head dress image represents the first time I met Alyssa back in January. The blackout bar story is about 3 months down the road of knowing her, and the long boarding incident happened recently, about 5 months of knowing her. In a way, the images show a sequence of events with my experience with Alyssa, and I am very happy to have had her as a roommate because I have never met someone like her and could always count on her for a laugh and a good time, at any time of day.