Natural Talent: Artwork of Jerel Riggs

About the Artist Jerel Ann Riggs was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in July of 1992. The oldest child of her family, she was a bad example for her siblings and younger cousins, and taught them to be different and go against the grain. As a child she would meow at her family members, and when she was told, "I love you," she would respond with, "I love apple juice." Raised by two young parents who had no idea what to do with her, she has kept up that tradition and has no idea what to do with herself. Paranoid, and probably a little delusional, she is afraid of being a cog in any sort of machine and may never fit in anywhere. Lacking the resources to pay for art school, all of her techniques are self-taught. She has no credentials, no professional experience, just a lot of time and practice put into the thing she loves to do the most: create. Playing with a variety of different mediums, she paints, draws, writes, and sculpts among other things. She loves cats, dogs, flowers, birds. She loves kids, but likely won't have any... Who can in this economy? She dreams of participating in the creation of cartoons and comics, and having her own children's book series one day. She has pursued other aspirations, but since the art life has called her since she was a child, she has put those to the side to give all her attention to her craft. With some hope, love, and optimism, it may be going somewhere. This is her first published work.