Tell Us a Little About your Journey as a Young and Developing Artist?

Well, I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. So I can’t really say where that journey begins. Though I can definitely say it is far from being over. I actually have a lot of moments lately where I’ll be looking over a piece of artwork I’ve done in the past, either at One River or on my own, and I’ll suddenly see all these things that I would have done differently if I were doing it now. That feeling can definitely be scary at first, because it can make me doubt the quality of the work I’m doing now. But really, that’s just a reminder of how much more there is to learn and improve, which isn’t actually scary at all. It’s exciting to recognize that it’s still early in the journey. 

Which Has Been Your Favorite Project to work on at One River?

I think my favorite project, and probably the most impactful project personally, was the first animation I did at One River. I’ve been a big watcher of cartoons since I was a little kid, so animation was the form of visual art I was exposed to the most as a kid. I think that because of that, animation always seemed a little bit daunting to me. But then I did my first animation at One River. It was a very simple animation of a character walking on a loop, but I really felt like I had the space to have fun and experiment with my animation. So I would definitely say that was my favorite project. 

Describe One River in 3 Words?

Supportive. Open. Engaging. 

Supportive because One River has always been a big source of confidence and guidance in my art journey. I always got a lot of support from my teachers, but when I started I was very nervous to engage with other students. I’m making an effort to get better about that, and be open to giving and receiving support from the other students. Open because during my time at One River I’ve gotten the chance to experiment with a lot of different methods and mediums. And engaging because I think my teachers at One River are never afraid to give me a challenge, or push me to think about something in a new way. Which I always appreciate, even if that appreciation sometimes takes a minute to hit me. 

What Would You Tell people who haven’t dabbled in art? Are there benefits?

Honestly I think pretty much everyone has dabbled in art in some form, even if they don’t really recognize it themselves. But yes, there are definitely benefits to doing art while knowing that you’re doing art. For me, doing art is a way to explore how I feel about my own life. That could be anything from art that encompasses my frustrations, or something that shows how I would live my life if I could do whatever I wanted. Not always in a directly literal way, but that’s always part of it. But that’s just me, I think art can benefit people in a lot of different ways from person to person.