The following is a list of paragraphs, sentences, images, and ideas that I'm considering using for my "statement of interest" that I have to write in order to get back into art school.  Let me know what you think are the strongest statements that I should stick with.  I really have to narrow this down because I have only two pages to work with and I tend to be rather long winded!

Prolific.  Imaginative.  Candid.  Ardent.  Unconventional.

I see colors within color; I'm always mixing images and genres up, building things up layer by layer.  Sometimes I work from one drawing, then I trace over my lines, adding to and editing the image(s) til it's just right.  Not a single painting or drawing I've done is from one single idea but a group of ideas I've shaped into one.

I don't limit myself to any one style or way of doing; I just go out there and paint to the rhythm of my heart.  I do everything with my heart, actually.  I work from passion and emotion.

I'm always trying to find new ways of creating and that means trying to see things in a new way, too.  You have to see it first in order to bring it into being and that means taking the time out to listen to my dreams, so I spend a lot of time alone waiting for a good vision to start from.  I don't work to repeat a pattern, I work to make things uniquely my own.  If someone buys a painting I've done, I want that someone to appreciate it as something only I could've done; something recognizable and standing out from the rest.

I tend to be scattered at times, sometimes wearing myself thin trying to take on too many ideas at once. 

I need to sit back and really think things through before doing them.  This leads to doubting myself, wondering if I have what it takes to do something as well as how I want it to be done.  The more time I doubt, the more time I give myself to self-sabotage.

Sometimes I lack confidence and require reassurance before heading into a new direction.

The biggest thing that shaped me was growing up traveling from one state to another.  I was raised in a strict fundamentalist Christian household and my mother was a missionary.  We were constantly on the move and I was required to hand out Bibles and preach, but as I grew older, I realized that Penecostal Christianity was not for me.  Instead of carrying on with my mother's religion, I ended up being touched by the diversity of the people and places we encountered and found my own way of believing without fear of eternal persecution.  I found that there was more to life than preparing for a Heaven or Hell in the after life. 

After my father came back into my life, I discovered my Native American heritage and explored the religion of my ancestry.  I then became an American Pagan (my idiom); mixing pre-Christian European religious beliefs and practices with Native American sprituality.  In doing this, I was separated and shunned by my family and I had to learn how to not only believe on my own, but to be on my own.  It's hard to be both white and "Indian" and yet not belong to either group.

I was raped and beaten when I was eighteen by an acquaintence.  Before the rape, I felt fearless and was innocent about the world.  After the rape, I had difficulty dealing with relationships and grew to both fear and hate other people who seemed to have it easier.  I went through periods of hating myself as well and have expressed my terrible anger and sorrow with my self portraits.  With each self portrait, I try to reach into myself to heal my wounds and try to find the real Valentina; myself who hid deep within herself so long ago when she was hurt.  The healing is ongoing.  I still deal with depression and anxiety; going to new places and meeting new people is staggeringly difficult for me at times, but I've learned to hold on to myself and laugh to get me through.

Actually, all three of these experiences reveals that from an early age I had to learn to be an individual, stand up for myself, and learn to love myself in the face of great adversity and rejection.  I could have withered up emotionally, instead I survived, I move on, and I keep going on. 

I stand out.  I am true to my Menominee name:"Waipnkiw" (pronounced "WAH-PAH-NEW-KEY", meaning: Morning Star) -- someone who stands out, who is out standing.

My father because he survived the Great Depression, WWII and the Korean War.  Like me, he's a loner and a survivor.

My mother because of her strong faith and devotion to her God.  She taught me to be steadfast and loyal, to stick to my beliefs even if they are unpopular.

Other individuals are Queen Elizabeth I and Frida Kahlo; two out standing women of courage, strength, intelligence, and survival.

That's hard to say because two of them are who I came from and the other two are my heroes.  I would say only I can reveal who I am.  If I were to chose who could I use to reveal who I am, I would be just wearing the mask of one of my heroes -- that would be Frida. 

I look at her and her paintings and recognize a piece of pain that feels like myself but it's a piece that is very far away and old, as if I'm picking out an exotic perfume I once wore, but don't anymore because it didn't really suit me after all.  Frida belongs to Frida, I belong to myself and maybe that's what I unearthed when I studied her work.

I have something unique to contribute to the world and I long to be a part of the world at large.  I don't want to hide or live like a hermit, I want to express who I am and tell people stories that both heal and teach.   

I think I have gone through hard times in my life so I can tell my story and so someone out there doesn't feel so alone, too.  I don't want to make anyone cry or feel sorry for me.  I hate being fussed over.  I want to show that I am strong and am getting stronger everyday and that my strength will make a difference someday, maybe even now.

I am here to present visions inspired by the stories of my ancestors.

Whether the story is of my own myth-making or an adaptation of an ancient myth, I am here to show stories, not just tell them.

I am ever changing, ever evolving; my work is a record of my growth as a human being who is endeavoring to get better all the time.

I am very attracted to community and the shared ownership of making art in a group setting, this is why I chose to major in Comic Art; the process of comic creation is ever-evolving and collaborative, characters and ideas are passed down from one generation of artists to the next, keeping characters fresh and drawing new readers into the fold.

To fit a contemporary audience's appetite for fantasy, it is easy for many artists to water down the powers of the Gods from other culture's religions, yet because they are so often revived in so many different guises, we still cannot deny their hold on our imagination.  Gods still have power because we still dream about them and, for some of us, dreaming is akin to believing and in order to make these dreams come true, an artist is needed.  When I speak of creating art, I am talking about waking people up to a dream I'm dreaming so they can believe it, too.

You can't tell a story in a vaccuum; I need an audience to make my dreams come true and that audience can't see my work until I have a place to present it and I chose this college to get me there.

I believe the time is right for me to return to finish my degree and gain the opportunities I need to land a job in my chosen profession.