gas, glass, and sass.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

IT CAME FROM HELL STARTED AS A FUNNY IDEA - WHEN YOUR FRIENDS OR SOMEONE ON THE STREET ASKS “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?” - “IT CAME FROM HELL”. I HAD JUST STARTED EXPLORING OPTIONS OUTSIDE OF THE FILM INDUSTRY DURING A MONTHS LONG STRIKE THAT DEEPLY EFFECTED MY FREELANCE MAKEUP ARTISTRY CAREER. I WAS INCREDIBLY BURNT OUT, AND AT FIRST I WELCOMED THE EXCUSE FOR A BREAK. I WAS DOING 6 AND 7 DAY WEEKS, 13-19 HOUR DAYS, SOMETIMES DOUBLES on back to back to back shows. AS MUCH AS I LOVE WHAT I DO, WHEN I STARTED GETTING THE ITCH TO CREATE AGAIN I WANTED TO TRY OTHER TYPES OF ART. I LANDED IN A STAINED GLASS FOR BEGINNERS CLASS AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE MATERIAL WAS THE HONEY POT FOR ME. THERE IS ALWAYS MORE TO BE LEARNED IN EVERY AVENUE OF ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS, BUT GLASS MADE ME WANT TO DEFY LOGIC. IT MET ME CREATIVELY RIGHT WHERE my issues with authority dig deep. i wanted the feel of gorgeous religious ceremony to collide with the depths of the greatest horror story ever told. as i kept building and practicing and experimenting, i decided to make my new found hobby into accessible art told from my point of view. my first two commissions should shed some light on my inate ability to attract absurdity. the first was a glass flower bouquet as a birthday gift for eva mendez. the second was a church window recreation built the year i was born. both projects were out of my wheelhouse, but the pressure and scale forced me to learn how to solder well.

on a long road trip to albuquerque to vend oddities and curiosities expo, i had spent a lot of the drive reminicing about all the road trips i’ve taken over the last decade. road trips that had a beginning point, a timeline, and one or two check points along the way - but the adventure was opening the map each night to see what weird roadside americana i could stop at the next day along the route. after a long rest break at a truck stop my friend and fellow maker looked at me and said - “thats it. americana. this is the thing. this is your thing.” and the hellway was born. the hellway allows me to tell stories through the weird art i make out of difficult materials. it allows me to create a world of escapism out of a horror themed fairy tale. it allows me to dig into the most creative sides of myself and constantly learn new skills. the hellway gives me room to bring passengers along for the ride. and i really hope you’ll come along for a leg or two of the journey.