Have you always known that you wanted to do art for the rest of your life?

“I actually did not know. I thought that I wanted to be a teacher until this year. Savannah Haneline was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Savannah College of Art and Design’ on it, and I looked it up, and it looked pretty cool, so we went down there to look at it and I just really liked the place.”

What was the general reaction from your family when you informed them that you would be pursuing an arts degree? Did they always know that that was your path?

“Well, they didn’t always know that, but they’ve been really supportive of everything I’ve looked at; when I wanted to be a teacher, when I wanted to do other stuff, they’ve been really supportive.”

If you were to go to an art museum, what would be the first exhibit you would go to?

“I really like expressionism. But me personally, if I’m going to pursue a career in the arts, it’s not going to be necessarily just illustration/painting kind of stuff. I’ll go corporate, maybe. Really, the only way to make money as an artist, unless you’re Picasso, is to be either a teacher or a sellout, so I’m hoping to sell out probably.”

What about expressionism do you like?

“I guess, to me, expressionism seems like there’s the most feeling in it, obviously, because there’s expressive strokes, marks… You can feel more of the artist’s emotion out of it.”

Do you have a favorite expressionism artist?

“Yes, definitely, Otto Dix or Max Beckmann, German expressionism.”

Is there a type of art you would like to pursue that isn’t really something you’ve shown interest in before?

“Yeah, I’m actually going to try to go into advertising. It seems fun. I do have kind of a background in graphic design so that helps, but it’s collaborative, which I really like. I like working with other people. And S.C.A.D. [Savannah College of Art and Design] actually has a 100% employment rate in the advertising department. I’m going to be a film minor, too.”

Do you think art is important?

“Definitely. I definitely think art is important. I mean, life would just be so boring without it. Art’s a relative term, you know, everything’s art. If there wasn’t art, people would be wearing prison clothes. What you wear everyday is art, you know, it’s fashion. Everything that’s around you, your cell phone, some graphic designer had to make the display for that. Art’s just everywhere, and I think without art obviously life would be so boring. But I do think it’s slowed down a little bit, art. I think people have gotten a little more lazy. I think you don’t see Da Vincis anymore.”