This piece is very bittersweet for me, and I know I don’t always show it, but creating this piece was especially emotional. This piece marked the end of one period of my life and the start of another. About five years ago, during the summer following 8th grade, I walked in late (approved via email prior of course) to the very first day of “Mr. McCasland’s” summer camp. Wearing a blue tank top and gym shorts over my gymnastics leotard, my hands still covered in chalk, I sat down and created the most hideous ‘piece’ I could’ve possibly made, and if it wasn’t hideous enough on its own, I spilled ink all over it. That was the very first piece I ever made under Mac’s instruction, and this is the very last. It brings me to tears thinking about all of the incredible moments my art friends and I have shared as a family throughout these past years, and that’s really why I made this piece. Although I know we are going our separate ways to make lives of our own, we will always be a family.