Growing up on Long Island, my family spent summers at nearby Fire Island, namely Sunken Forest. Days were spent under the canopied trees, the damp coolness of the shade where my imagination was never limited but flourished. Fire Island and my connection to the Sunken Forest runs deep. They are part of every summer memory, and I cannot separate them from the rest of my childhood. When my essence was most malleable, this magical place embedded itself into the core of who I am as a person and an artist. Incorporating my love of the outdoors into my work was only natural, if not inevitable.