The time has come for me to combine my love of photography and my love of jewelry. I've always appreciated them both as art forms, each allowing me to free my creative spirit...

In this series of necklaces, I'm documenting all the ruin I see in my community and transforming the imagery into wearable art. I want these pieces to reflect the idea that because something is dirty, forgotten, and forlorn it does not mean it is purposeless. Each necklace is wearable, functional in its own rights, and thats the message I want to reflect upon my community. Just because we're a little rough around the edges, doesn't mean we can't thrive and do great and wonderful things. 

Once upon a time there was a maiden who dreamed of attending a masked ball. She wanted to wear a beautiful dress and dance with a handsome prince. She dreamed and wished, yet no fairy god-mother showed up with an invite. So she and her closest homies decided to throw their own masquerade ball. And it was quite dope.

The End.

I wanted to keep my ghettofairytale short and sweet but I must mention the most wonderful part of it all! Obscure, our magical event, actually served as the very first fundraiser for Imaginarium Creative Outreach (click the little lightbulb on the right to find out more). It was a magical evening complete with live music, dapper ladies and gentlemen, ornate (and sometimes silly) masks, artwork, crystals, and  of course scenes from Metropolis. We had a great time and raised quite a bit of money, it was a successful first event... I'm already dreaming of the next one, no fairy-godmother needed.

                          

Stuffed animals make excellent models...

Oh my, how time flies! School and work has kept me a busy bee, but my creative spirit has been soaring high and free. In the few weeks that have passed so much has begun to take place, and every experience has kept me diligent in wanting to make a positive difference in my community. I'm going to start taking serious steps in turning every dream into a reality, and although school is my biggest focus, I'm using even it as vessel for accomplishing community centered goals. ICO Detroit is the seed I have planted, and into a tree it must grow.

In case you're wondering dear reader what ICO Detroit is, it came to me as an idea to take what I love most in this world- art, and fuse it with what I care most about- education and youth empowerment. Imaginarium Creative Outreach, or ICO for short, will be my ever growing bond between art and education. Its a lifelong commitment to fighting for social justice, dreaming big, working hard, barely sleeping, remaining strong in the face of adversity, smiling everyday, bringing God, my friends, family, and amazing partner in crime (heeeey Mike) along the way, and most of all doing everything I can to give to the kids of Detroit the amazing gift of hope, love, and beauty through the arts.

Whew! I've got my work cut out for me!

In dreaming big I must take small steps, and two of my tiny leaps of faith have already launched me into what I know will be a wonderful year of things to come. The first is the Brother Bear Project- a creative toy drive bringing artists and little ones together, and the second is Obscure, a masquerade fundraiser benefitting ICO's dreams up opening a community art house. Each event is something new for me- opportunities to grow and learn about what it takes to truly make a difference and I'm beyond excited to learn and thrive through these endeavors. From here on out, things are going to become stupendous. This tree is  going to grow tall and mighty- and I'll continue to soar high and free.

I'm going to a babyshower, yay!! As a gift for my very stylish baby cousin to be, I was given the idea to make bowties. Finally reunited with my mom's old sewing machine (so graciously passed down to me) I decided to give it a try. It was really fun searching for scrap fabric at my job (who doesn't love digging through the damages bin) and once I found the perfect colors and fabrics I knew this project definitely needed to happen. Using an old pair of turquoise shorts, I pulled a semi-all-nighter and produced one baby bowtie! I must admit its pretty stinkin cute, now I just need to learn how to make an adjustable neck strap, and then I'll be golden. I'm determined to master the baby bowtie. Now that I know I'm capable, I'm super excited to make more!

This past weekend I got the pleasure of attending a pretty awesome, fantasy themed, housewarming luau. What is a fantasy themed, housewarming luau you ask? Well, its a bounce house, leis, an inflatable slip-n-slide, reeeeeally good food, tiki torches, water balloons, and of course beer, lots and lots of beer.

 The fantasy part was a bit non-existent, but the hostess donned a pretty cool space kitty outfit, and I'm certain there was an extremely fashionable "grandma" planting red lipped kisses on cheeks. I chose to be the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Although my look was a simple (a playful white skirt and floral button up), I decided I needed to have a little fun with the rabbit ears, so I sat out on a DIY adventure. Armed with floral wire, fabric from an old dress, hot glue, and some good tunes, I made some rather lovely bunny ears. Of course in a frenzy of seeing old friends and having far too much fun, I lost them...so here's what I have to show for my diy adventuring, iPhone style. 

I made the structure with an old headband and floral wire shaped like rabbit ears...

 Ripping long strips from an old (and quite distressed dress) I began to wrap the headband...

and then the ears...

I'm a bunny now!!

I haven't finished editing my lovely cousin's maternity pictures, but I couldn't resist posting the one I finished! All of my favorites will soon go to the photography section of my blog (aka Flickr) so that she and the little one can have their splendor showcased... 

Its been such an inspiring experience editing these, and within it I've become motivated to dive further into the world of maternity, infant, and kid photography. I love little people along with the joy and magic of new life, they fill me with such hope and warmth. Being able to capture the light and love of mamas and tiny ones alike would be an incredible photographic endeavor. Now all I need is more friends and family with babies on the way! 

My beautiful cousin is expecting a beautiful baby boy, so for this queen I made a crown. Since my last adventure with wire, I haven't had much practice, but I think her floral headpiece turned out quite lovely. I hope she feels as exquisite as she looks in it. Maternity photos are soon to come! 

I've been in Detroit for three days and it feels like I've already spent more hours behind a camera than I did the whole year I spent in California. Granted my China and I began shooting at 6am and ended around 6pm, but man, it was absolutely lovely. Donned with some giraffe spots and amazing pants, she proved (yet again) to be an amazing subject matter. Not only is she amazing to look at but she's also a phenomenal photographer-  and in our twelve hours of adventuring, eating coney, and catching up on a year's worth of missed memories I also got a chance to play dress up and get in front of her lens. 

Miss China's work can be checked out on her instagram and tumblr... but for now, here are a couple of shots I took of her. 

As an art major I always struggled with finding my creative identity, and in that I began to lose my entire sense of self and individuality, my art was my life but with lack of purpose in all that I created, I felt useless to myself and my community... Last year when I traded portfolio reviews, darkroom chemicals and paintbrushes for- data, observations, session planning and well, more paintbrushes, I figured I'd lose myself even further in the realm of identity crisis, but the complete opposite happened. Though, it was not between the lines of my SSMs that I discovered who I really was- it was within my circle. The same circle I stood in every Monday through Friday (and occasionally Saturday). It was within this circle of friends- or more like family that I truly began to understand who I was and my purpose in this big world. Through these 16 amazing individuals, I was empowered to be myself wholly. In learning to love all of their beautiful and unique minds- I learned to love my own, and now I can go confidently back into the community that I felt so lost in, and make a positive impact. 

Special Ops, Thank you for inspiring me to be me, I love you all.

Hello Two Thousand and Fourteen, I do not believe I've introduced myself properly, my name is Kristian. I'm somewhat of an artist and a dreamer, oh and I mustn't forget an adventurer. Although lately, I've only been a tutor, classroom support, lunchtime chaperone, amateur Pokemon trainer, and half marathon runner. With my world revolving around a year of service with City Year I haven't made much time to develop the things I daydream, doodle, and design- my creativity stays hidden in my many journals and sketchbooks and I often spend more time fawning over Pinterest posts instead of my own ideas. Alas, my year of service is quickly coming to a close so I must begin to work diligently on the things I hope to dedicate a lifetime of service to. Not that the last 9 months haven't been amazingly fulfilling, its just now time that I take all that I've learned and all that I aspire to do to bring to life the organization that will best make use of my creative ability and love for working with children. I'm journeying into the land of non-profits and along the way I want to challenge myself, explore new creative concepts, design, build, sew, write, cook, meet, and so much more. I have to really hone my ability as a leader for young people- which means I have to be able to grow and learn every day. I'm going to make my learning experiences as a student of life, as colorful, hope inspired, and meaningful as they can possibly be. Using this blog as a vessel to showcase all the things I get into, I'll do my best to make every post, picture, and update as wonderfully uplifting and enriching as the experiences themselves- so that maybe I can inspire whoever comes across this page. I've got a lot of work to do but until then, Happy 2014! 

I wanted to feel like the queen of my bedroom, so I made a crown. The wire work was pretty darn tricky, but once I got the structure made, wrapping it with embroidery floss was quite fun. While twisting and gluing, my mind wandered off to distance lands with beautiful gowns, brave princesses, and handsome princes. I love fairytales- stories of queens, kings, and magic, so this project was quite lovely! It was my first time making a crown, let alone something out of wire, I hope in the future I can make another!

The new year has officially begun, and to celebrate, I'm back in action with a new look, layout, and posts! 2013 feels like a blur now that I've conquered January, but I know there is so much more to come. Since my last post I've completed my first semester of City Year, signed up for a half marathon, visited Detroit (got inspired), registered my non-profit's name, updated this blog, and turned 23! I've got so many things to edit and upload from past adventures, and there's only more to come. 2014 is going to be a new year of inspiration, creativity, dreams, art, and imagination and I'm most certainly excited to share. Not only that, but this blog will now be the vessel for my non profit's journey into the land of after school enrichment. 2014 shall be absolutely splendid...

Adventuring in LA is always a great time, especially when you get to take pictures of really cool people. I've mentioned Nakia of Damn WRITE before, with our our previous collaboration being her "Will Write For" campaign. This time, I got to take some portraits of her and spend sometime getting to know a wonderful soul. It's always a pleasure being inspired with my fellow creatives...