Art Competition Archive

Art is no longer my adversary

Story and sketch from Ron W.

Growing up, I always had a bit of an adversarial relationship with art – a combination of cheap art supplies, and a lack of structured instruction made me quickly lose interest in “art classes”, and pushed me to focus on other, more rewarding interests and topics. I, like many others, came to believe that the ability to represent the world around me was a talent that I lacked. About ten years ago, an artist I met finally got it through my thick head that art is a set of skills that can be learned like any other. Since then, I have off-and-on, studied and taught myself, learning that while quality materials do not make you a better artist, DO make the experience of making art more enjoyable, and thus make it more likely to want to continue practicing, learning, and creating art.

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I paint Imagination

Story and artwork from Monetta Damure

The ancient Greeks had a word eidos, which means “form” or “idea.” Eidos, in turn, gave rise to the English word eidetic — referring to a mental image that is unusually vivid and detailed.

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Dreams of Mastery

Story and artwork from Zuri Dreamer

Hi, I’m Zuri. And I am a Dreamer.

I am the granddaughter of women whose grandparents were slaves. Both of my grandmothers toiled under abusive husbands in the rough conditions of what we Americans call “the Dirty South”; each feeding a quiver-full of children on withered breasts, educating them despite troubled minds and spirits. I come from a lineage of survivors, practical people who did what they had to. Stern faces and glinting eyes all swearing by the Bible and western principles as the women surreptitiously “laid hands” (as healers) on their community, doling out remedies that transformed every life they touched. My single mother, like many of her generation, lost the magic of non conformist spiritual dialogue and bought completely into the promise of respectability politics, the American Dream and the western standard of worth.

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Windows of Life

Story and artwork from Christopher Alaimo

My name is Chris.

I have been a professional musician for most of my life and somehow at 40, I became a sleep tech. At 56, playing instruments is difficult due to my living situation and a dislocated shoulder. So I took up art as a pastime and now it has become an obsession. Music has form and texture, light and shadow if you will.

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The beginning of a story

Story and artwork from Wenshu He

Hi! I am Wenshu He.

Art has always been a big part of my life. I started calligraphy and drawing when I was five years old. As a teenager, I had the chance to learn the systematic drawing method, but I did not take it seriously at the time. My major in university was AD design. Now, I want to learn human body structure, the golden ratio in characters and landscapes, and so on.

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I want to be an Illustrator and Concept Artist

Story and artwork from Eduardo Lluberes

Hello, my name is Eduardo Lluberes. I am currently looking to take any opportunities for improving my art, as I want to be an Illustrator and Concept Artist in a future. In addition, I would like to note that the following drawing is a study of Perseus by the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini.

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Using my skills to encourage others

Story and artwork from JS Williams

For me art has been a part of my life even as a child, both of my grandparents were artistic. I myself didn’t spend a lot of time, until I had my accident. I enjoy realistic and progression styles of paintings and drawing. I believe my proportion and similarities are my biggest two problems.

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