By Eliza Dubose ’20 Arts Editor
Art imitates life. In the case of Virgiana Jones ‘21, a freshly minted Studio Arts student, that is certainly true. Her pieces embody her bold, fast-paced style and approach to life, something she’ll be able to explore this year through the Studio Arts course. The Arts page sat down with Jones for its first featured student artist interview.
MN: When and how did you start making art?
VJ: Oh my goodness. When I was younger I would do a lot of camps at the Museum of Contemporary Art in my city; when I was probably like three or something. So I’ve always been drawing; I’ve always been painting. Art has always been a part of my life.
MN: How would you describe yourself as an artist?
VJ: I like to get things started quickly. I’d say I’m bold probably because I like to start off quickly. I think that’s kind of something that’s even a problem [when I’m working on art]. It’s funny because Mrs. Caretti actually said this to me today, “You have [to slow down]. You show a lot of enthusiasm in your work, and that’s okay.”
MN: What does your process look like when you’re starting a piece?
VJ: Okay, like I said I’m pretty fast; that’s my thing. [In Studio Art] we do our thumbnails first. So, I first figure out the layout of how I want it to beand of the artistic components and stuff like the principles of design that I want it to have and whether it is even: stuff like that. . . which I think I did really well in my graphite drawing there, with the rule of thirds. So I do first. And then from there I just transpose my thumbnail from just a small, little sketch of what I want up into my large drawing, and then from there I just kind of fill in the space, and I add detail at the end.
VJ: Oh my gosh, I almost always start over. And so it’s not necessarily a good thing but for me it is really better because I feel like I almost always do better the second time, because I know where I went wrong. And, yeah, it almost always helps. For a lot of people [starting over every time] doesn’t work that well, but I can work kind of fast. So, yeah, it’s fine for me.
MN: So how has Studio Art helped you think differently about art and its processes?
VJ: I don’t know if this is a good answer, but Mrs. Caretti really helps me. For instance, I press way too hard with my pencil even when I take notes and stuff. So Mrs. Caretti always is trying to help me with being light or if I make a mistake. And that’s what I love about this class, I’m learning a lot.
MN: You’re working on the self portraits right now. How’s that going?
VJ: I really like it. I’ve actually started over twice already, but you know it’s building, it’s getting there. Mrs. Caretti is also helping me a lot with proportions and stuff. That’s the hardest part in making it so it looks like you, but I really like it because I like doing facial features. I’m really, I’m so excited to see how this turns out, because I painted a huge painting first, [which was also] a self portrait. I hated it… and so then I started painting Bob Marley over it. But it wasn’t proportionate so Mrs. Caretti was like, “Just make it bigger.” So now I’m just restarting it and making it a huge Marley. That’s what I love about painting, really. When I draw, I always start over
and stuff, which is actually, I guess, part of my artistic process.