Artistic Journey of Jenean

As a young girl, I enjoyed going to town with my mother. Only because I knew in one of the stores there would be a place with coloring books, dot to dot pictures, sketchpads, crayons, & more. I knew each time that I went to that aisle, my mother would buy me one item of my choice. I would always pick something that would give me artistic freedom. Everything that I created, my mother would hang it up on the refrigerator. It made me proud to see something that I designed, hanging up for family and friends to enjoy.

When I reached 4^th or 5^th grade, I began sketching clothes and other things in notebooks that I found. I can remember going clothes shopping with my mother on a number of occasions and having no luck. I would leave the store upset that I couldn’t wear what every other girl had on at school. So, for some odd reason I thought I could design my own clothes. Honestly, I had no idea who would make the clothes, but I had outfits planned out. I practiced pinning random fabrics on my dolls from time to time, but never pushed clothing for myself. In middle school, my love for art grew stronger.

Although, I was liked by a lot of people; they still talked bad about me (in return I would do the same…out of hurt). It was then that I decided to put how I felt about people, my environment, and my emotions in general into my art. In 7^th grade, my art teacher saw something in me; he invited me to join a summer art club. From that time until 11^th grade, he pushed me to do my best work and my artwork always made it to art shows but never won. I would leave each art show disappointed, but I enjoyed going to them because I got to see other students’ work. During those moments, I would reflect on a variety of things.

Before graduating high school, I remember telling my mother that I wanted to go to school for fashion design, then it changed to interior design, and basically to no art inspiration at all. Long story short, I became a Human Services major. During my journey at two colleges, I signed myself up for art classes and chose to be an art gallery assistant to learn more about art. What I learned in college from classes and my dope friends, made me fall in love with art again. I had found people who were just like me; artistic (creative in dance, acting, singing, & poetry). Even after graduation from college, I have a never ending love for art. I have been drawing (pencil), doing nature photography, mixed media art, painting, and writing. As for my adventure back to clothing, we will just have to see where life takes me.

My favorite art categories: B/W photography, pencil art, mixed media art, graffiti, music, and poetry.

-Jenean Hill