My name is Allison Zieper and I have been drawn to art since I could crawl. Before I could walk, I was breaking in to the childproof cabinets that held the art supplies and painting the living room carpet. As I grew up and discovered my many learning disabilities, the one topic that never gave me any issues was art.

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Some of the main themes that I prefer to focus my work on range from dealing with too much death at a young age, growing up around addiction, and my experiences as a queer person. My art process rarely involves much planning, and is often an intuitive reaction to a pain or trauma I am dealing with while making the work. This process mostly includes clay and sculpture, because I feel the materials allow me to create what I need for myself best in that moment, and doesn’t require much planning. However, with the adjustment of just a little planning, I have begun to include more 2D works as well, more specifically oil paintings.

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The only thing that helped me during my lowest times was expressing my feelings through different art mediums. And what better way to help children like me in the future, than by giving them the artistic tools I was given to help express themselves later in life. This is why I plan to take my experiences with art and hopefully create a safe space for future students to create a connection to art that can help them later on.