ARTIST STATEMENT

 

 I am a CCA alumni who creates props and costumes keep the art of practical, tactile effects alive. Ever since childhood, iconic films of fantasy like Star Wars and Back to the Future stood out to me as ways to escape everyday life. I was amazed how the imaginative costumes and tools used in these pop culture worlds were so believable. As I grew up my love of costumes and props grew to the point of me creating them myself. My work is driven by my dream of becoming a prop maker for feature films, and to one day work at the legendary studios such as Weta Workshop and Ironhead studios.

 

It’s easy to overlook props in contemporary CGI-driven cinema.  Props do many things. They become more than just objects, they become symbols. A prop can be a hero’s strength or weakness. A good prop can represent a character, to the point where that object can’t be thought of without thinking of that character. Most Importantly, props are objects and objects are things everyone can relate to. I create my props and costumes in states of wear and decay to tell a visual story of where they’ve been and how long they’ve been there. If I have a prop that’s been locked up for thousands of years, I’ll play with realistic textures of rust and patinas to tell my own version of the story of that particular item not just to make it look aged, but to give it a personality and character that cannot be achieved from a brand new out of the box depiction.