Still In College
By 2009 something had clicked. The work from this era is noticeably more controlled and intentional — the compositions feel planned rather than discovered, and you can see a real comfort with the page starting to develop. Horizontal banding becomes a recurring theme, with each strip getting its own distinct pattern: flowing waves, tight checkers, feather-like leaf forms, angular zigzags, and loosely scrawled marks that contrast sharply against the precision around them. What's especially interesting here is the push and pull between structure and looseness — some pieces feel almost architectural in their geometry, while others have passages that are deliberately rough and free. The "Tear Through" piece stands out with its bold diagonal shape cutting across layered stripe work, showing an early instinct for using negative space as a design element. These pieces feel like the work of someone who was starting to figure out not just how to fill a page, but how to make it mean something.
A page of carefully layered horizontal patterns — waves, hatching, and flowing lines — interrupted by a bold diagonal shape that cuts clean through all of it, leaving a corridor of empty space in its wake. The patterns continue seamlessly on both sides, giving the piece an unexpected sense of depth and tension.
