Background
For as long as Izzy can remember, she’s been surrounded by art.
“My dad’s a musician. My mom did a lot of visual art in college and still does a lot of printmaking,” Izzy said, “and so I was raised in this creative environment.’’
“From a young age, I really liked drawing,’’ Izzy said. “And then in high school, it’s just been a passion of mine.”
When Izzy learned of the Pilot Program in her sophomore year, things took off – or, in Izzy’s words, this was when “that passion really turned into a bigger part of my life.”
Art
Izzy’s styles, methods, and tastes have been liquid, constantly molding and evolving, but one constant is the role of writing and poetry.
“I like to pair words with images,” she said, “and the words tend to express a feeling or emotion or thought that I’m having or experiencing in life, and then the image sort of is just goes off whatever the words say.’’
“I’ll do some journaling,” she said. “I’ll sort of let all my words come out on the paper. So words always come first.”
More recently, she decided to start up a series of pieces all connected to a central theme. “I ask people about different topics that they wanted me to make art about, and I got a lot about abandonment,” she said, “which is sort of a deep topic and not something that I have personally a lot of experience with, thankfully.’’
Izzy’s process.
When she begins, Izzy finds it helpful to do a little brainstorming first. “I will start to think about different symbols that I associate with that specific topic,” she said.“So for this specific one, I was thinking a lot about chairs and household objects. Things that you sort of associate with a home. And you know I tend to use chairs, stairs and boxes quite a bit in my art.”
The next decision Izzy makes is about color. “For this specific set I wanted some really bright colors to stand out,” she said,”in contrast with the darker objects.’’
Izzy takes her time as she moves through the process. “I’ll just sort of spend some time sitting with these little cutout objects that I’ve drawn,” she said, “and moving them around the paper and experimenting with what looks best.” She cuts away the words one at a time, trying to find the ones that best represent her idea.
The Pilot Program
And where does Izzy see this hobby taking her in the future? She’s not planning on majoring in art, but she can imagine selling her artwork and maybe even publishing a book. “We’ll see what happens, but I definitely want to continue making art just for myself,” she said. “It feels good.”
Izzy said her experience in the Pilot program has followed a lot of different directions. “My first few years here, I was like, ‘I really want to have a specific plan and like, really stick to it,’” she said. “But this is my third year, and at this point, I know myself well enough to know that I make the best art when I just kind of let it unfold.”
“We’re just letting it unfold’’.
