The third person in our NSA Times Visual Artist Spotlight is Jude Ayers. He’s a senior, and his work has been exhibited at the Belmont Mansion and the Hermitage. We had an insightful conversation about art and mental illness, realism and abstraction, and Jude’s AP Studio Art concentration.
NSA Times: What subjects do you like to explore in your artwork? Jude Ayers: I like to explore mental illness, specifically psychosis, because it’s something that I deal with. So I like to portray that through my art by distorting things the way I see them. NSAT: What mediums do you use? Jude: Mostly oil paint, sometimes color pencils. NSAT: And why do you like oil paint? Jude: It's very malleable, very forgiving. I think that it's actually a lot easier to use than most mediums, which is interesting. So many master painters use oil, and maybe that’s why they are master painters. NSAT: What artists are you influenced by? Jude: I’m influenced by Lucian Freud , because he painted what he saw and not what people wanted him to see, which was kind of taboo at the time. Also Francis Bacon, because all of his portraits, from top down, they start out very human looking and then they become abstract shapes. NSAT: Do you prefer collaborative or individual art projects? Jude: Individual, definitely. NSAT: And why is that? Jude: I generally just don’t work well with other people. With my art I’m very “Alright, this is what I’m gonna do” and if there’s someone else in the mix, I can’t just do what I want to do. NSAT: Could you explain your AP Studio Art concentration? Jude: I’m looking into distorting and blowing out of proportion human features, because of the things I deal with. I also doing this because I want to take people who are beautiful and kind of mess that up, I guess. Its interesting trying to explore beauty standards that way, taking just a regular person, making them into something kind of scary, and seeing how people react to that. NSAT: Are there any memorable NSA art projects? Jude: Well, PARK(ing) day is really interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever really participated in that, but whenever people mention NSA projects I’m always like “Oh, PARK(ing) Day!” NSAT: What do you plan to do after NSA? Jude: Oh man, I’m actually thinking about going into psychology. I’m not really sure though, that’s still a lot to think about. NSAT: Do you have any other hobbies? Jude: I’m just a pretty average person, I guess. I enjoy playing video games, and I like horror movies. NSAT: What video games do you play? Jude: Mostly RPG games. NSAT: Do you have any advice for the younger students of NSA? Jude: Just keep working. Never stop, If you stop, you get artist’s block, and artist’s block is only fixed by working. I think that as long as you work, you’ll get better. Even if you think you won’t improve, you just have to keep working.
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Student art spotlight: Corbin ChandlerCorbin Chandler is the fourth person in our NSA Times Visual Artist Spotlight. He’s a senior, and his work has been exhibited at the Frist Center for Visual Arts, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Belmont Mansion, and the Hermitage. Corbin sat down with us to talk about past projects, his current work, and his plans for the future.
NSA Times: What subjects do you like to explore in your artwork? Corbin Chandler: Usually I draw things that I enjoy or that I’m interested in. When I do the political comics, I often focus on Trump, because I really disagree with him and I find joy in that. The other stuff that I do, I’m usually drawn by aesthetic, like looking at something or sketching something out and going “Yeah, I like that.” And If I don’t like it, it usually doesn’t end up in my final pieces. NSAT: What mediums do you use? Corbin: I work particularly well with ink, but what I’m really trying to work on is digital, because it’s becoming more important, and I want to be an animator, so that’s definitely a big part of my future. NSAT: What artists are you influenced by? Corbin: A lot of artists on Tumblr, a lot of digital art, often using pastel colors. I don’t usually use those specifically in my own art, but I really enjoy looking at that. I also read a lot of graphic novels. NSAT: What are your favorite graphic novels? Corbin: One of the ones I read this year was called Fun Home. It was really good, and the art was really interesting. There’s another, it’s a manga, and it’s called Wolf Children. The art is really beautiful. Even though I kind of got out of the reading manga phase of my life, I still have that book, and it’s really beautiful and one of my favorites. NSAT: Do you prefer collaborative or individual art projects? Corbin: It depends, because collaborative, you have to work with people. Sometimes the people you work with aren’t people you get along with. That usually ends up to be a piece that isn’t really cohesive. But if you work with people that you get along with and mesh with in the intellect section, or just you like being with them, you probably will create better art. NSAT: Could you explain your concentration idea for AP Studio Art? Corbin: So my concentration has changed a couple times, but what I’m working with now is seeing the beauty in vultures and how they’re very important and how they shouldn’t be looked at as scary, death-bringing creatures of hate. The history of vultures is really beautiful. From Egyptian mythology, they’re referenced as creatures of motherhood, purity. They help eat things that carry diseases, and they stop anthrax from spreading, as well as rabies. They’re just really really important creatures to our ecosystem, and people don’t see that. So that’s what I’m trying to explain in my pieces. NSAT: Are there any memorable NSA art projects? Corbin: We talked about collaborative pieces, and we’ve done several with Ms. Spadafino. One of them was a print project which didn’t turn out very well. We painted the school from three different angles and it didn’t turn out as well as it could have, and people didn’t work on it like they should’ve. What we need to do is take down those pictures, because I really wish we could re-do them or something, do something that really shows what the seniors have reached. We were sophomores when we did it, I don’t think we all were practiced enough to be able to accomplish something like that. NSAT: So those projects are memorable in a not so good way? Corbin: Yeah, I think they were good ideas at the time. We weren’t able to do them well. I can remember a lot of our projects. We got the pictures the kids drew, which was interesting. We never gave them to the kids, they’re still in the library. NSAT: What do you plan to do after NSA? Corbin: I’m gonna go to college. I’m going to college in California, so I plan on getting into animation or digital art after i graduate college. I’m going to either USC for their animation program. I still haven’t heard back from them. I’ve been accepted into the Academy of Art University for animation. NSAT: Do you have any other hobbies? Corbin: I write a lot. I've been writing with one of my best friends for the past 3 and a half years. We’re working on a couple of things that might be turned into comics or novels. That’s my other thing that I do, I don’t do anything else. NSAT: Do you have any advice for the younger students of NSA? Corbin: My advice would be to not focus on a lot of other people. Keep yourself enough self-centered to the point of where you can get your work done, because when i got into high school, I thought everything was about making friends and trying to be in a group. And even though I got that, what’s most important is the fact that I’m passing. I know a lot of kids joke about how they’re not passing. You know, it’s free education, and I feel like you should try as hard as you can, even if you don’t feel like you really can accomplish things. I think it’s important to try, because a lot of kids don't try. AuthorArticle by Jessica Cardona |