Artists

Fall 2011

With Corey McCorkle

I'm a space cadet. I always zone out and enter new voids. An extremely wide range of styles and cultures run through me. I was born in Fairfax, VA but I was raised in Brooklyn, NY. I am Jamaican, African American, and Eastern European. In my eyes, art represents beauty, energy, emotions, and/or social issues. Music and color are my biggest inspirations. My most specific aspiration is to be a musician, but I strive to be a philanthropist and to help the world become positive, equal, safe, and enlightened.

I love to draw. I breathe, eat and sleep graffiti, paintings, and other forms of art. When I was eight, I made a papier-mâché mixture out of baby powder and warm water. I didn’t know what I was doing, but the stuff actually worked. I draw all kinds of things that enter my mind and I love the fact that only I can define those things. Other people may have their say, but my say is definite. I love working with my hands and I helped my mother do projects when she had her own construction company. I said “I think I want to be an engineer.” I still do, but I encountered architecture, so I’m going to incorporate both things into my life. I realize that I want to expand my mind toward other forms of art, and I find it pretty cool that I don’t yet understand everything I see. But with more analyzing and talking to artists, I can get there and see the full picture.

I’m a young animal rights activist who loves art and design, from the Jewish part of Fresh Meadows, Queens. I’m an ABC: American-born Chinese. My sister convinced me to join Youth Insights. For me, art is a necessity of life and a stalker – it follows you wherever you go. In the future, I hope to have a nice career that includes some art and design aspect.

My name is Francesca and I am from New York City. My family was born in Italy, but moved to the United States eighteen years ago when my parents got married, so I consider myself partly Italian. In New York, I am exposed to so many people, ideas, and cultures which inspire me every day. I use this inspiration for my films, which is my main hobby. I also love reading and creating art. Art is my way to free myself. It is my release of feelings, ideas, and emotions. Without art, and without expression, I would feel empty and useless. Art gives me meaning. It can be my escape from the world, and even my escape from myself. Art takes me to a beautiful new world where all is limitless. I am really inspired by people, by the mind inside every human and the morals that people have. I like to explore the human mind and expose people for the selfish, complex creatures they really are.

I am Jaydee and I am fifteen years of age. I also happen to be an art major at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. Art has always been a big part of my life, even before I left the small Caribbean island of St. Kitts for the Big Apple. Here in New York City, the center of art and fashion, I intend to receive a great art education and to have a profession in the world of art. I am a very diverse person and I want to learn as many mediums of art that I can. I believe there is no one definition for art. Art can be just about anything, from the recycled paper on the floor to the clothes on your back. I enjoy art because it is versatile, and so am I.

I am like everyone else, but I am not like everyone else. Although I have the same DNA sequences as others, I think and act differently from anyone else. This individuality that exists in nature, in society, and even in mass production is what inspires me. To me, art is everything. I am interested in almost everything in the world, since everything possesses artistic characteristics in its own way. Art is a pair of speakers in my sight, or it is a series of movements my sleeping sister makes in her bed. it could be anything. Everything can be a source of inspiration that forms tinkering ideas in my head through which I can create my own universe.

Hey there! My name is Lily, I’m sixteen years old, and I’m a junior in high school. I have endless interests and constantly growing likes and curiosities! I enjoy theology, philosophy, literature, history (especially the study of ancient civilizations), astrology, antiquing, traveling, adventure, music, comedy, and art of any and every sort. I am a naturally curious person, so I’m always finding hobbies or things to do to occupy my time. Art is particularly significant to my life. It’s important not only because it is a useful means of expression, but it can also be personal and universal. It has the power to influence, create political and social movements, and spark unexpected emotion. Art brings people together, and this has proved true for thousands of years.

I am Sidney. I am sixteen years old and currently attend Bard High School Early College Queens. I was born and raised in the Bronx and I take pride in my biracial background. I am half Puerto Rican and half African American. My heritage often gives me inspiration. I am very interested in writing poetry and in drawing and painting, but I also love cultural anthropology. I enjoy learning about other cultures and thinking critically about why humans do the things they do. This relates to art because artists represent their world views in their work. Each work of art is original and unique, just like each culture. To me, art means self-expression, un-replicable expression. It means seeing the world from different angles and conveying that into a piece. Art is all around us and I love to challenge the logic of life to make it into an artistic view or a more creative, subjective idea.