In my project, Uninhibited, I portray female surfers in my community to explore societal concepts of what are acceptable roles and activities for adult women of various ethnicities. A second goal of my work is to help make people aware of environmental issues. I use surfing as a metaphor for the harmonious interaction between humans and nature. When people enjoy nature, they feel a sense of communal ownership and responsibility for the environment. While a certain measure of my studio practice involves working in solitude focusing on formal and technical issues, I also use local women athletes as models in order to make connections with my community. To emphasize the importance of environmental issues, I repurpose discarded objects as elements in my artwork. I find that art and extreme sports parallel in so many ways. The necessity to be disciplined, combined with a willingness to take unexpected, intimidating risks improves one's performance both as an artist and as an athlete.