Biography: I started my first semester at Aims last fall and I plan to continue taking art and English classes here. This piece was one of my projects for Jewelry and Metalworking 1. Working with metal as a medium instead of paint or paper collage was a bit out of my comfort zone because of its inflexibility. The figure in gold at the center of this piece is Lúthien Tinuviel, an Elf from Tolkienian lore who I’m sort of obsessed with. I’ve made several pieces revolving around her, always circled by leaves and ivy. She’s a witch, she’s half-god, she’s Orpheus. She’s a figure of light and dark, life and death. Some artists I’m inspired by and try to emulate, with varying levels of success, are Ayami Kojima, whose mixed-media style is a bit of Gothic romance and a lot of ethereal beauty – morbidity with a pretty face – and Gustav Klimt, whose use of color and fluidity in the women and the gardens he painted always leaves me with the impression of a pressed flower.