Lea Anderson

As a young child, I often transformed my grandma's dwelling into my own personal canvas. Fueled by morning cartoons, I would concoct detailed illustrations of the oddities in my imagination and intricate pictures of my family and surrounding. It was evident I had been blessed. I was never discouraged from my routine doodling either, just encouraged to channel that creativity on to anything but our walls. When I started public schooling some years later I was introduced to the scope of what art really was. Painting, drawing, photography-It was a world unknown to me then. The way we experimented with every medium early on was perfect for my inquisitive nature. For years I invested in what I now consider to be my craft, with the guidance of numerous

An artist that inspires me is Diego Fazio. He makes intricate realism drawings of people in a way that requires great artistic skills. His work shows great control and understanding over light and perspective. He showed me that realism can be a beautiful form of art that is able to reflect an artist’s emotions effectively. One of my favorite artworks of his is a drawing of a girl with water pouring over her face called “ Reflesso”. No matter how long you stare at the drawing you will not believe that it is not a photograph. My other favorite is called “ La Mia Gioia”. It is of a man who appears to be choking and in pain. The drawing reflects Fazio’s emotions in a distinctive way that echoes his personal experiences.

Lynn Margulis, born Lynn Petra Alexander, furthered the theory of endosymbiosis that was both controversial and potentially groundbreaking. As a gifted student, Lynn Margulis enrolled in the University of Chicago at age fourteen, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1957. Margulis then went on to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned a master’s degree in zoology and genetics in 1960. Margulis went cross country and earned her PhD in genetics from University of Berkeley in 1965. Margulis did her postdoctoral research at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. In 1965, she moved to Boston University, where she remained for over two decades before moving to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, teaching botany as a faculty

Art is something I couldn’t live without. I was never involved in anything. I never played sports and I was never active in clubs, so when I came to the realization of being interested in art, it was so exciting. I knew I would never be good at anything like sports, opposite my brothers. Both of my brothers had played football and basketball from their days in elementary school to high school. It just wasn’t the “thing” for me. Recently, I went to Art Club just to check it out and see what it was like. Consequently, I fell in love. Now, I can’t imagine my life without art. Since joining this club, I have become more creative, made more friends, and spread my horizons. Art has showed me what type of person I am and has made me grow as an artist and person.

What inspires someone is often revealing of who they truly are through the exposure of their values. For instance, I am inspired by people who are highly dedicated to achieving their objectives as I too take pride in reaching my goals both academically and otherwise. In particular, I am committed to studying diligently towards my goal of earning my Bachelor of Science degree. Likewise, I focus the same level of concentration towards mastering choreography within my dance and color guard performances. Both fields, academics and art, contribute to who I am as an individual.

I am grateful to have learned what it means to be an artist from my educators and my peers around me. When you’re a kid they put you in art class and teach you to paint or draw with as many colors you want and paint whatever your imagination shows you. Your art gets hung on your refrigerator and your parents tell you they’re proud of you, no matter how sloppy your art is. As one gets older you can lose touch of your artistic side. Being a true citizen is seeing a reality of ugly. Thankfully, I’ve learned to see the world as an artist. I don’t dismiss the ugly, I just try to paint it beautiful. I had a middle school choir teacher who means so much to me all these years and especially now as I apply for colleges. He has always taught me to believe in myself and that my dreams can always find a way to come true. He taught me to be bold and be creative.

I "go with the flow" and allow it to come into being, either through the pen and paper, keyboard or through my body and the music. I just type my thoughts as they come with out thinking about them. I know I can always go back and clarify, fix the grammar and edit if necessary with writing. This does make it a lot easier to allow oneself to do so. When I am painting I do the same, I allow the painting to come to life with little to no thought behind it. I just create. It is calming and like meditating while creating something personal. (I am no great artist. I am actually not good at all... It is just a hobby I enjoy and, I sometimes display the art in my house for me to look at. My husband is nice and lets me. It just reminds me of the peace I felt while working on the

I was engaged in artistic activities since childhood. My mother was the strongest influence; she worked in the education field and was highly interested in art education for children. I was always in an environment with access to art.

She taught me many techniques and styles, but most importantly that art was not purely realism or made for beauty, but that art is an expression of yourself. The picture you were painting, didn't need to be photo realistic because there were so many forms of art that you could explore. She inspired me to want to hep others grow as an artist and as a creative mind. She was the first teacher that I felt truly wanted me to succeed, and believed that I could. Throughout my years as an art student I have had some teachers who were perfectionists and only taught in a very strict concrete way. However these high school teachers did not discourage me, if anything they heightened my motivation. It only validated my idea that I want to inspire others and provide them a community of acceptance, education, and creativity. I need to be an art teacher because I want to positively impact the future, to instill a deep sense of purpose to students, to make sure everyone is cared for, to be constantly learning new things every day, to inspire generations of change, to explore creativity, and to prove that one person can make a

Music inspires me. It transports me away from the world and helps me to go deeper where I can access memory and emotion as I paint. I am inspired by light, atmosphere, and sudden changes in the weather. Abstract Expressionism/Action painting from the 1950's is a sustaining influence as well. I am in love with the world most of the time and everything and everyone that comes into my life are put into my work in some small

Beginning in eighth grade, I developed a strong desire to use art as a means of expressing ideas from my imagination. I attended summer art camps for 5 years during middle and high school, and I drew characters constantly in an attempt to figure out the human form, but it wasn’t until my first high school art class in tenth grade that I really progressed in technical skill.

I visited the Installation by Linda Bond in the Human Rights Institute Gallery which runs from September 5th thru December 20th, 2017. On October 5th, 2017, there was a reception with the artist. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to meet her.

My artwork is made from both watercolor and acrylic paint. The rainbow is made out of watercolor and the tree was made from acrylic. I blended the rainbow to make the colors look more realistic. I used different designs to make my artwork look more unique and have a different aspect.

The reason I chose Frida Kahlo as inspiration was because of her ability to create herself in a way other artists do not. Kahlo’s art has always been a source of fascination to me. The surrealism her

Artists may work strongly from their own experience, thoughts, feelings and psychological experience which strongly influences their style, originality and their creative expression.