Carlos Mora-Fallas is a junior art major at Shippensburg University with a focus in art education. He has a wide variety of artistic passions but has a notable love for drawing.

“My favorite thing to do is drawing, I’ve gotten a lot better at drawing since coming here,” Mora-Fallas said. “I have this one really weird drawing; it’s a fish in a tie.” Recently, he’s been very focused on his favorite and longest running work of his. It highlights how much he has progressed in improving the craft about which he is most passionate.  

“I’ve spent at least 30 hours of just sitting there and shading… the fish drawing, actually. Which is really stupid because you sit back and think: ‘I spent 30 hours drawing a fish in a tie?’ But it’s one of those things where you know the payoff,” Mora-Fallas said, acknowledging the subject matter. However, he is also working on other projects from varying avenues with which he has familiarized himself.

“Works-wise, I’ve been working on my ceramics final, a drawing of the four elements and something that has just been sitting on my dresser for like three weeks,” Mora-Fallas said. The piece is a small plexiglass engraving of his friends’ dog, Walter, chewing on a hamburger toy. The engraving is still a work in progress.

Mora-Fallas’s works are often a product of how he sees the world. He features friends and familiar images, but also likes to play with reality. For Mora-Fallas, anything can serve as inspiration.  

What cemented Mora-Fallas’ interest in art was a particularly excellent high school art teacher. The experience also sparked his inspiration to teach art to future generations.

“High school was rough for me. She really helped me with who I was as a person and finding a way to express myself through art,” Mora-Fallas said. Through his teacher, Mora-Fallas learned to express complicated emotions with art and also not be afraid of new mediums, even if it pushed artistic limits. “She was just like ‘I don’t care. Paint. You have to.’”

Already in his junior year of college, Mora-Fallas seems to be following in his teacher’s footsteps well with great understanding of how to inspire and teach students the subject.

“[Art] is not like history, or science, or along the lines where it’s on paper and mathematical or very ‘This is the fact of it.’ I mean, teaching history is like giving people the answers, art is like giving people the tools to find their own answers,” Mora-Fallas said. He recognizes that art teachers do not always receive credit where credit is due, but for him, art is an important tool for self-expression and facilitating communication. 

Art is a subject that takes a great deal of time, effort and emotion. While some pieces may seem small and silly, hours and hours of work go into its production, according to Mora-Fallas 

“I spend a lot of time in Huber (Hall) and it’s become a second home because of all the studio space there. Like you can’t make ceramics at home. I wish it was that easy, but you’ve got to go to the studio,” Mora-Fallas said. 

Mora-Fallas continues to attain artistic achievements at SU, ranging from drawing tattoos for friends to finding one of his paintings featured in the campus literary magazine, “The Reflector.” To this day, his passion and involvement in the SU art program continue to grow. 

To see more of his work, follow him on Instagram @carlito029.

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