The Strawberry Collection: A Love Letter to My Roots

Every artist has that one moment when everything shifts — when you realize your work can mean something more than just paint on a surface. For me, that moment began with a strawberry.

In 2022, I was studying art at a community college in Kansas City. At the time, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I was going to school just to go, floating through classes without much direction. Then I met a professor — the head of the art department — who completely changed the way I thought about art and myself.

He was my sculpture professor, and he pushed me to dig deeper, to create work that came from my story, my background, my identity. He challenged me to stop making things just to make them, and instead ask why I was creating them. That question — “why” — cracked something open inside me.

I started reflecting on where I came from, who my family is, and what memories shaped me. My thoughts kept circling back to my childhood, to moments that felt warm and familiar — and one image kept appearing: a strawberry.

The strawberry felt symbolic to me. It reminded me of my roots and my culture, but also of simplicity and nostalgia. Growing up, my mom used to read me the children’s book “The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear.” I loved that story — the sense of wonder, playfulness, and color. So, when I started my next sculpture, I decided to honor that memory.

That sculpture became “BIG HUNGRY BEAR” — a 100-pound piece made from steel, concrete, and roofing materials. It was heavy, rough, imperfect — but that’s what made it powerful. It was an object born from the collision of strength and sweetness. Creating it was physical, messy, and emotional — I was sweating, welding, lifting — but also smiling the whole time.

That piece became the first in what I now call The Strawberry Collection — an ongoing series that explores heritage, identity, and emotion through the lens of the strawberry. Over time, the collection has evolved to include paintings and mixed-media works, but the heart remains the same: it’s an ode to who I am at my core.

To me, the strawberry represents home, memory, and resilience. It’s bright and inviting, but also fragile — it can bruise easily, just like people can. Each piece in this collection is a reminder to celebrate imperfection, to embrace roots, and to hold space for the sweetness in our stories — even the messy ones.

Creating the Strawberry Collection helped me find my voice as an artist. It grounded me. It reminded me that art isn’t just about beauty — it’s about belonging.