Hi there! I’m Will and I’m a senior physics and math major from Nashville, Tennessee. To me, art is a process of self-fulfillment allowing me to express myself beyond my work in mathematics and theoretical physics. Above all other creative pursuits, I’m definitely a writer. I really enjoy writing fiction, prose, essays, and poetry, and I’m inspired by great writers such as David Sedaris, Fariha Roisin, Walt Whitman, and Sylvia Plath.
More recently, I started to learn music theory and I’ve been expanding my musical interests by learning piano. I don’t have any experience really with making digital art aside from some Inkscape experience, however I’ve always enjoyed crafts and sculpturing as a hobby. One of my goals in life is to apply my creative artistic side to my future work.
As for what that future work might be, I’m hoping to integrate my coding skills and data analysis into something meaningful. I have programming experience in Python, R, Mathematica, and Matlab and I’ve become pretty good at throwing numbers and equations around. Now I want to throw in colors, sounds, visualizers, and music into the mix to see what pops out!
Here’s some things I’ve made and some super short things I’ve written!
Sixteen places where I sleep
- On top of the front balcony roof. Herbal smells wafting from their smoke. A twenty foot drop to my left.
- Among the crickets and spiders in the basement of my father’s fourth house. The slate walls crumbled as I brush up against them, leaving rocks and dirt in my bed.
- Underneath a black labrador on the couch in her family’s tiny house in Rhode Island. The dog is easily forty pounds, despite being only a year old.
- Inside and Outside a mason jar full of milk and honey. I drown in lipids.
- A cinderblock room behind the door frame, far from the moonlight streaming inside the window. Although the smell of a dumpster also wafts in through the window, so pros and cons…
- Sweltering inside a tiny third floor room on top a plastic mattress, slick with sweat and homesick tears.
- Sideways with a backpack on and angled over a trashcan. The sickly alcoholic green vomit permanently stains the plastic.
- Under the ocean of salt and sand, but above the lake of stars and rocks. The willow branch’s path splits and twists. Intricate spread.
- Draped in plastic trash bags under forest trees and above snails, worms, and sediment. The 3 am rain-water trickles around me in a shallow ditch. Please don’t overflow…
- A marriage mattress. Don’t ask.
- An air mattress. Do ask.
- Beneath a study table, surrounded by equations, caffeine, and poor decisions.
- A grassy drainage ditch. Don’t worry, it was vaguely dry.
- On a train, plane, and school bus window panes.
- Splayed on top a parked car hood, grasping the front ornament.
- Unease.
Concrete Con-creek
Cannibalization of the Calcified Cadavers of Nature’s Core.
These Creeps and their Capitalism, Controlling with Monolithic Constructions. Car Parking Lots.
Of Course it’s Callous. Yet to Conclude this Conundrum, what should be Changed?
Nearly everyone proclaims, Nature Nature, Nature, Nature is Necessity.
Never Notifying what Nature Necessitates.
I Guess Grass? Giant Green Growths. Gaining Gadfly’s.
Isn’t it convenient that what we deem as nature is the same status symbols expressed by the elite for centuries and not native ecosystems and biodiversity?
Striking – your written examples are very detailed and very appealing to read. I really like the repetition of the words used in the second writing piece.
Thought-Provoking: your writing in the first piece was so engaging; the imagery you used made me want to keep reading and reading. The various places you described made me curious and made me feel like I was exploring those places as well. The second piece provoked thoughts of politics and the environment going hand in hand, definitely made me want to try to decipher the message.
Thought-provoking- Your writing piece grabbed me right away. It very much reminds me of the Hermit Crab writing method, where you convey a story in another form (like a playlist or recipe). Also another work like this that comes to mind is the book that was written completing in lists and has a similar word flow to your own (I forget the name and can’t it anywhere, but if I find it I’ll another comment).
Thought-Provoking: I loved reading your pieces, your voice is in it is really distinct, even in such few words. I definitely find myself re-reading “Sixteen Places where I Sleep” and mulling over the different places you’ve described. It’s a really creative way to build so many vivid scenes and images.
striking- This art is really cool, and I like the writing. I really think the stuff you do is going to translate well into digital art, as your traditional art is very striking to me and it was very imaginative in its way of telling a story.
Thought-provoking: have to say, those little writing pieces had me pondering for a while. The sculpture also looks very good, as a person who did similiar cardboard box work before, I totally recognize and appreciate it. It takes much more endeavor than people think to make one.
Thought-provoking: Your writing is phenomenal. I am definitely going to be thinking about it for the rest of the week- you captured feelings of melancholy, nostalgia, exhaustion, rage, and many others all in a few short words. You should look into getting published with this stuff- its honestly left me speechless. Awesome job!
Thought-Provoking: your writing is very visual and rife with personality, and is a real joy to read.
Familiar: Although I didn’t post it myself, I have occasionally dabbled with poetry in my writing, and it can be quite a fun way to engage creativity in your writings. It’s solid work, and even though I’m not one for the physical art, the written form is one that I haven’t seen much of on this site, and it’s awesome to properly see a kindred spirit of sorts in this class.
Detailed – Your writing is eloquent and, not to use another badge, but, shiney. I hope to see more of your writing in the weeks to come!
Thought-provoking – Your writing work is extremely impressive and I would love to see more of it! “Sixteen places where I sleep” had me wondering about the context of each place and your experiences.
Colorful – I liked how everything came together nicely with the colors and how they could be powerful enough to show their true meaning.
Colorful – I love your use of color in your sculptures. Your sculptures are so cool and I’ve never seen something like it! The shaping and colors are amazing
Funny – I can’t help but love your poems; they’re very evocative and slightly humorous. “Sixteen places where I sleep” manages to be wistful and even somehow nostalgic purely because of the way everything works together so well. “Concrete Con-creek”, with all its hard “C” sounds and alliteration, is also very cool and compelling.
Inventive – I really want to read more poems by you, I feel like you have a signature style to them. I also feel like physical 3D art is an underrated art form, and yours are really good! I really like the patterns on the bird
Colorful: I realize this isn’t your main thing, since you’re a physics major and a math major and a writer first, but I enjoy the sculptures. They reminds me of paper crafts I would make as a kid except yours are aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound.
I think I may go with ‘quirky’ for the wide range of unique pieces.
Familiar – The bird like sculpture sticks out to me a lot. I love the style and it feels oddly welcoming to me.
Impressive – Your poetry/writing is great I am a huge fan of the figurative language and unique phrases / wordings. Poetry is really fun I hope to see more from you in the future