Continued...
An Interview with Artists for Humanity
TV: Have you sold any artwork?
Yesenia:
I don't do painting, but I have done a holiday card for Fleet Bank and they sent it to millions of their customers.
I also made shirts that we sold at The Boston Globe, South Station, and at the Arts Festival.
Julia:
I've sold a photograph for about $200. I know other people in my studio have also sold work. The photo and painting kids also publish work
in publications like The Boston Globe's "Teens in Print." We've been commissioned to do photographs for them, not for money, but it's a really good opportunity
that we also have.
TV: What is the meaning behind your artwork?
Julia:
A lot of the work we do in photography is commercial; people pay us to do advertising stuff, so it's mostly whatever they want, not necessarily deep and fulfilling.
For our own personal work, we freelance, and it varies from person to person. I take pictures at protest and I like to do political art.
Yesenia:
It's kind of hard to have a connection to commercial work because sometimes it's like "Alright, so, you can do this, but you can't do that."
Most of the time, though, it's about imagination. Sometimes you don't even plan on what you're going to do, you just sit there and start doodling,
and next thing you know, you have a T-shirt design that's selling. That's how it just pops into your head.
Cassandra:
It's more important to have something that's deep within your paintings to stand out. I love doing portraits. I just love doing people; the face is just beautiful to me.
But a lot of times, I do things like love, death, life, just anything that's on my mind at that time. It definitely relieves a lot of stress, a lot of anger; it gives me
that energy to look forward to the future.
Self-Portrait by Cassandra Lattimore
TV: How has being in the program affected you or your life?
Julia:
First, it's been a job, which is good because I need the money. Second thing, I have applied to art schools for next year: Pratt, Mass Art, the School of Visual Arts, Cooper Union, Rhode Island School of Design,
and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which I am going to. My mentor wrote me an amazing recommendation that I think got me into college, so it's influenced my life. I don't think I've ever been more
supported in my life by a place or group of people in a community. Especially as an artist, it is so hard to feel confident in making a decision to go into the arts. Everyone always tells you, "There's no money
in the arts." But it really shouldn't be about that—and it isn't. But you hear, "It's so difficult; you're going to be a starving artist, there are no opportunities, blah blah blah." They try to scare you out of
it and it's nice to know that that's not true, there is stuff you can do, that you are making a difference, and that really anything is possible. This place started twelve years ago with five people in a garage, and now
it's a beautiful building in South Boston with a hundred people working here.
Cassandra:
Ever since I started painting, I look at the world as more detailed, more beautiful. I see a can on the street or something and that looks like art to me, but again that's how it changed me. It definitely helped me with my
individuality. Cassandra is somebody; Cassandra is an artist; Cassandra is a person that people can look up to. It definitely gives me that go-ahead, like "I can do it in life." I think it affected me more deeply than the money.
Yesenia:
I know this might sound kind of cheesy. When you come here you're getting away from the world. You're coming here to find yourself. The people here actually challenge you and your thought process. You go to school
and you see girls looking at you up and down, giving you attitude. You come here and they actually sit down and talk to you like, "Oh, what's up?"
TV: What is the most important thing you learned while you were in the program?
Cassandra:
There are different things that you learn, but the most important things I've learned are to respect myself, respect others, to respect art, to respect people's individuality, to respect stuff that I probably would
not see in my regular life. That also makes me a more open person, probably a nicer person, a person that more people will feel comfortable talking to.
Painting by Cassandra Lattimore
Julia:
Also, I think that in addition to learning artistic and technical skills and growing as an artist, I think there are so many different people here and you get to know them so well, and have access to people
you wouldn't normally find anything in common with. It's taught me a lot about not reading too much into people before I know them, and that there's no one way to be an artist.
Yesenia:
Anywhere else you go, they're going to be like, "What was she thinking when she got up this morning and put that on? What was she thinking when she painted that? Why did she do that?" Here, they don't question it,
they embrace it, so it's like I can actually be free without being self-conscious of what the next person is going to think.
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Are you a teen artist or photographer? Want to see your artwork in a national magazine or website? Contact Teen Voices and
we'll send you an artist packet. Send us your contact information
here.
The mission for Artists For Humanity is to bridge economic, racial and social divisions by providing at-risk youth with
the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in the arts.
Check out the very cool Artists for Humanity website and see how they achieve their mission.
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