Have you ever wanted to see good art, but you don't know anyone who is good? Well, I interviewed Senior Victoria Jackson, she is our Bruin Featured Artist. Victoria describes her art as a projection of her thoughts and emotions. She says it's her voice, but it's also just her having fun.
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I asked Victoria a series of questions about her art. The first thing I asked her was, what inspired you to get into art? She answered with, “I've just always been very passionate about drawing. Ever since I could hold a crayon I've been scribbling on a paper. My family and peers also always encouraged me.” I'm glad Victoria has a lot of encouragement in her life.
Most artists have certain brands they prefer to use over other brands, so I asked Victoria what brands she likes the best. She said, “Copic is probably my go-to brand for alcohol markers due to their wide range of colors and smooth blending capabilities. Crayola is also a very fun brand to use despite it being targeted towards children.” I did some research and most artists prefer using Copic markers over other marker brands because they are “the highest quality marker brand on the market.” I also found out that famous artist, Kristina Nelson uses Crayola Crayons for most of her artwork, and it's really good!
I asked Victoria what her favorite drawing/painting techniques were. For drawing, she said, “Recently I tried Blind Contour Drawing and it was actually really fun!” She then explained that Blind Contour Drawing is where you don't look at your paper while you draw, you only look at the object you are trying to draw. She says that it really helps you work on hand-eye coordination and forces you to accept non-perfection. Victoria says that she prefers dry brushing with acrylic paints over any other painting techniques. She likes this technique the best because, “ it allows for an opaque coverage and clean shapes.”
One thing that Victoria enjoys painting and drawing is people. She says that people have always been her favorite thing to paint and draw, “I love capturing the diversity of the human race and showing their emotions.” Quoted Victoria. One thing she has difficulties painting and drawing is inanimate objects. Examples she gave are, furniture, flowers, and food.
Victoria is a Senior, so I asked her if she plans on doing anything in college for art; she plans on majoring in illustration or fine arts. Victoria wants to be an illustrator, she wants to write, illustrate, and publish her own books in the future! She also plans on working on animation at some point in her life. Victoria would like to go to The University of Saint Francis or the Milwaukee Institution of Art and Design. She says that they both have amazing teachers and amazing programs.
The last question I asked Victoria was, “Do you have any artwork that has meaning?” She replied with, “ My drawing of the Statue of Lucifer is my most recent work with a meaning. The central theme of the piece is sin and, as shown by the form of Lucifer which is made up of various sins in the form of written words. The idea is that we as humans see Lucifer is an evil creature and therefore blame him for our own faults. Lucifer is depicted in the bible as the root of all sin and is shown in my artwork to be literally composed of our sins that we force onto him. I see him as the entirety of humanity instead of just one fallen angel.” I'm sure she has other amazing artwork with meanings but, I will include this one at the end.
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Victoria is an amazing artist, especially for only being a Senior. I will include some of her pictures below. I hope that Victoria makes it into one of her dream colleges so that her career can be something that she truly enjoys doing, and so she has fun while she is doing it.
