Made for the MakersPlace Art Challenge 5-5-5. Week 2's inspirational phrase: Personal Story.

This is a new edit of the self-portrait that brought me to where I am today. Essentially, the image this piece is based off is the first serious piece of glitch art I made, and the piece of art that would eventually lead me to pursue a career as a professional artist.

I attended the University of Minnesota Duluth from 2007 - 2012 and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Art and Photography. After graduating I was fully convinced that I would go on to grad school, get a Masters of Fine Arts, and teach at a University while working as a professional artist. Long story short: I did not get into grad school.

For about four years after that I was lost. I don't want to say I was a "failed artist", but my drive was gone. I no longer had interest in creating anymore. I saw a few friends doing "every day challenges" (where you try to make something every day for a year) and I thought that might be a good way to get back into making art, just make one small thing every day. And so I did.

I had messed around a bit with glitch art while I was in undergrad, and I figured it would be an easy quick way to make one piece every day. I was a photographer after all; I could just glitch/edit photos I had already taken. The image this edit is based off of was day 1 of my 365 day challenge, and pretty much every day since I made that first image I have worked on art in some capacity. I am usually not one to enjoy having my picture taken, but I feel I owe a lot to that first self-portrait, so this piece is a way to say thank you to it.

Thank you picture of my face ☺