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FINE ARTS BY SHURVON
www.fineartsbyshurvon.com |
QUESTION 1: WHO AND WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR INTEREST IN FINE ARTS?
SHURVON:
I first noticed artwork at a very young age by looking at some of the pictures that were in my home and at school.
We had the vintage 1970's black velvet pictures of black people that most other African-Americans had in their homes at that time. I remember looking at the texture and the images that were obviously different from the crayons I was coloring with on the brown-tinged paper at school.
My uncle Keith Haynes is a professional artist also and I would watch him start his art preparation process which was very elaborate and detailed, almost like watching a architect at work, but the finished product was always "MAGNIFICENT" and that was the beginning of my love for the FINE ARTS!
Some of his work can be seen at the MLK/Othello light rail station. For more information about this project read the Seattle Times article below:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/art/2008/11/07/augusta-asberry-dancing-along-the-light-rail-line/
Augusta Asberry’s Come Dance with Me in Seattle on the southeast corner of Othello and MLK. Soon to be installed, Augusta Asberry's "Come Dance With Me," a group of stylized cutout steel figures of joyously dancing African women, looks toward the traditions of her ancestors. Sadly, the Bremerton artist died last year of breast cancer at age 75 before her piece was completed. Seattle artist Keith Haynes is finishing the painting on the sculptures, which are slated for installation this summer on the South Plaza at the Othello Station.
In a statement for her Women Painters of Washington biography, Asberry said about her work: "Designs, color and motion are the elements that dance around in my head and become the heart of my work. My off-balanced arrangement of these elements without a focal point is like 'offbeat phrasing in jazz
music.' I invite the viewer to linger awhile and 'listen for the beat that is never sounded."
(See the images below)
QUESTION 2: WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MOST MEMORABLE ART EXPERIENCES AS A YOUTH?
SHURVON:
The art I created for school projects were my favorite, in 3rd or 4th grade I won a art contest at a local store near the school I attended. Those early years of making collages, finger painting, water color and paper mache paved the golden brick road of my creative journey as an artist.
QUESTION 4: WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR PERSONAL ART COLLECTION?
SHURVON:
My personal art collection is still growing but I currently have some very good art prints by: Hiawatha Davis, Al Doggett, Annie Lee, Esther Ervin, Jolyn Gardner, Jonathan Green, Gene Edwards, Ash the Painter, Eric Salisbury, Norman Rockell, Ron Dicianni, Linda Haynes, Keith Haynes and more. In addition to collecting Fine Art paintings, I also collect books by my favorite authors and subjects related to art, fashion, culture and cuisine.
Please visit the following websites to learn more about buying Fine Art from people of African Descent.
SHURVON'S FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION ABOUT BEING A VISUAL ARTIST...PART:2
WHAT IS YOUR MAIN FOCUS / ART MEDIUM CONCENTRATION
The style of art that I create is typically inspired by a particular theme or message, that will give me an idea of how I want to best represent my ideas in a painting. Therefore the style of my artwork may vary and will continue to do so throughout my art career. Especially with images that I feel need to have their own customized representation on a canvas to bring forth the right type of energy apart from my other paintings.
This particular form of creating artwork does not always fit into the traditional mindset of those who believe that a artist should focus on one type of style and my answer to that is… "I never intended to just focus on one particular style of Fine Art.
It is not my intention to break any formal art education rules or be opposed to good art advice, but I must create artwork that comes from within, not just what academic scholars and textbooks recommend.
I can appreciate when people make positive suggestions or want to see more of one particular style of art on a canvas, which may lead me to make more of something similar in the future.
But, I will not be limited to making one style of artwork for the rest of my life... as I'm sure many people in the world would agree, not to wear the same clothes, shoes or hairstyle for the next fifty years, "no-can-do!"
WHAT NEW ART TECHNIQUE ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLANNING TO INCORPORATE INTO YOUR EVER-EVOLVING CREATIVE ART STYLE?
There will definitely be more collage artwork, because I find it to be the best way to include several art styles into one painting and have texture which is what I love for all of my art peaces to have.
There may be beads, jewelry, mirrors, fabric or something totally unexpected to add some extra life to my final creation.
WHERE CAN AN FINE ARTS COLLECTOR PURCHASE YOUR FINE ART?
https://www.facebook.com/BWB365
WHY ARE YOU A VISUAL ARTIST?
Because it is a fun positive creative expression and I love being able to create something the way I had envisioned it to be with some added elements of splendor during the final process of bringing it to life.
I also really enjoy the subject of FINE ARTS in general. Whether I'm creating, reading, learning or admiring other forms of artwork other than my own at a museum or gallery. It is a very exciting form of human expression that everyone can enjoy according to their own specific interest.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MYTH ABOUT BEING AN VISUAL ARTIST?
The biggest misunderstanding about being an artists with the ability to draw or appreciate fine arts in general, is that you have to be associated with some elite high society culture club.
That is not entirely true, most people have some form of creative talent in at least one of the fine art humanities, how they choose to use their talent is there choice. There are different groups of people who make different types of art.
For example the opera-theatre-museum group vs. the hip-hop, spoken word, night club group. Each of these creative fine art categories are important for the growth of our society and the world.
They each have something to offer to people who are at different stages in their life. It is great to see people from different cultures and demographics enjoy each others creative talent, because it is a good sign that people are expanding their horizons and learning new things, that's the purpose for living in this world.
WHAT NEW ART PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE IN THE WORKS?
I have my first solo gallery exhibit for my "Fine Arts Designer Series tour, titled 'ART THEORY' scheduled to debut in January 2014, featuring all new collage-paintings that will be a little different from what I have created in the past.
I will also have some new items available for the upcoming holiday season.
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SEATTLE TIMES ARTICLE WRITTEN BY COLUMNIST JERRY LARGE!
2 friends connect with art — and Africa
Jolyn Gardner Campbell and Shurvon Haynes are artists who share an interest in community that drew them to a project called Artists 2 Africa, which uses art to make connections between Africans and Americans.
By Jerry Large
Seattle Times staff columnist
Shurvon Haynes, left, and Jolyn Gardener Campbell are two friends who found a fit with Artists 2 Africa.
http://www.gofundme.com/41ehdg
Sometimes young people have to struggle to find work, but many of those who do find it want not just a paycheck, but a chance to do something they believe is good and meaningful.
That desire isn’t unique to a particular generation, but believing it can happen seems more common today than a generation or two ago, and so does the willingness to give up security to pursue dreams down one avenue after another en route to work that fits who they are.
Jolyn Gardner Campbell was a prosecutor and her friend Shurvon Haynes was a journalist; but they’re both artists now. They’re examples of that desire to find their own best fit, something they feel good about. They share an interest in community that drew them together in a project called Artists 2 Africa that uses art to make connections between Africans and Americans.
Campbell decided to become an artist after taking an art class at Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School, but she changed direction because several teachers and a judge were impressed by her performance in a mock trial and urged her to go into law.
She got her B.A. from Western Washington University in the law and diversity program and graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2006 with a job offer from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Campbell went into the job loving the idea of being a prosecutor, but she only stayed two years. In juvenile court, she said, it hurt “seeing those kids, and a lot of the time I had to recuse myself because they were kids I went to school with, or I knew their parents, or I just was too close to the family that I was assigned to prosecute.
“It was hard,” she said, “to constantly see people who I knew in some way in court, sometimes in shackles and in chains.”
She decided she couldn’t continue and turned to more creative interests. She led art tours, got together a women’s drum circle and painted. She still practices law, but now it’s contract and entertainment law.
Haynes found newspaper work wasn’t as fulfilling for her as she thought it would be, so she decided to explore her long interest in the visual arts by enrolling in the Art Media and Culture interdisciplinary program at the University of Washington, Tacoma. “The media was where I was going to use my journalism skills, the culture was going to be where I talked about social change, race, things of that nature that would connect my writing with society,” she said. “The art thing, I still wasn’t sure how I was going to include that.”
The question about art was answered for her at a book reading by UW-Tacoma professor Beverly Naidus, who wrote “Arts for Change: Teaching Outside the Frame.” Haynes’ appreciation of art had leaned toward the aesthetic, but the book and her classes gave her the freedom to address social issues through art.
After graduating in 2011 she created a blog where she displays her work and writes about art and culture.
Campbell, who has won awards for her art, was invited to participate in Artists 2 Africa and partnered with Haynes.
I’ve written in the past about other Americans’ efforts to maintain ties with Ireland, with countries in Scandinavia and Latin America, Asia, the Middle East. It’s harder to bridge bonds so severely strained as those between Africans and African Americans, cleaved apart by slavery. Which of the dozens of countries would an African American look toward?
But across history some people have made connections despite the difficulty. Having a connection to deep roots gives people strength. I’m certain that knowing an honest version of their heritage, in this country and before, would have changed the paths of some of those young people Campbell got tired of seeing in jail. You can’t visit Africa and come back using the N-word to refer to yourself or your brothers.
Artists 2 Africa is a small-scale project, the kind that doesn’t require wealth or a big organization, just a few people willing to throw their pebble into a pond. The world runs on the little things that individuals do.
Ten artists from the United States will travel in October to Ghana, where they will exchange techniques with African artists. It’s the second year of the project, which intends to visit a different country each year.
Haynes’ and Campbell’s project is a mixed-media International Art Quilt, made of 5-inch-by-5-inch squares, each of which will represent the story or message of an American who is interested in Africa or African art. They’ll leave that artwork in Africa and ask Ghanaians to contribute squares to a quilt they plan to bring back to Seattle and donate to the Northwest African American Museum.
Campbell and Haynes have been going to local events talking about the projects, and creating squares representing those events. You can find out more about the project at Campbell’s website on indiegogo.com.
Haynes told me she’s always decorated her living space. “If I didn’t see anything in the store that either I could afford or that had my vision, I would just create it myself.”
They’re both doing something like that with their lives.
Jerry Large’s column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com
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