Julia Rose Defonso

Fall of 2019, my freshman year of undergraduate studies. I found myself in a new home, surrounded by amazing artists, personal instruction, and the near constant inspiration and drive to create. Plagued by an oncoming global pandemic, my artistic momentum fell flat. I decided to wait one semester to take any studio classes, then two, then three. Two years flew by, and my paintbrushes sat in the same box I carried out of my dorm room—I was no longer an artist. I found comfort in my old work, adopting the delusion that if my next piece was unsuccessful, I could never call myself an artist again. My coursework forced me to create again, and I found myself straying from the mediums I once gravitated towards. What began as a timid display of creative insecurity became an exploration of new mediums, styles, and ideas.

Throughout this collection of works, I began calling myself an artist again.