Artists of Arts Commons - Part six

As we prepare to welcome you back through the doors of Arts Commons, we thought we’d check in with our staff artists, our Artists of Arts Commons, who practice art in their personal time – whether it’s an active hobby or even a secondary career. We’ve been excited to be able to share a wide range of artistic pursuits with you, from painting to dancing, to felting and script writing. In part six of this series, we introduce you to a photographer, a digital artist, and a sculptor.

KIANI EVANS
A social media expert, musician, arts history major, and photography enthusiast, Kiani loves art in all its forms. Fortunately, with her job at Arts Commons, she’s able to flex her creative muscles, particularly in the realm of photography.

In the first year of my geography major I signed up for a photography class as an elective. I'd always enjoyed photography––it was among the more accessible artforms to me at the time, and something I'd grown interested in pursuing since high school. But the day before classes started I received an email from the professor asking all the students to bring their DSLRs to class.

I did not own a DSLR. I didn’t even own an SLR. In fact, I possessed none of the letters I was being asked to bring.

I panicked.

The next day I found myself awkwardly sitting in Art History 101. It was the only class I could find with a seat open after hurriedly dropping photography. I presumed it would be dull and dry.

By the winter semester I had dropped all of my geography courses and enrolled in Art History: The Sequel, beginning my enduring love affair with the arts. Photography and I did eventually find one another; I again signed up for it as an elective, DSLR in hand this time. It is the same camera I use today.

I worked in agriculture for a number of years and was provided opportunities to photograph cattle shows, conventions, and conferences on a national scale. I had always thought I'd become a wildlife photographer if I ever pursued the camera professionally (the yellow box of National Geographic forever calling my name), but it turns out I greatly enjoy working amongst people. Being a photographer provides you with a unique opportunity to move throughout spaces in ways most people can't, and as a greenhorn to the agricultural industry, it also provided me with an indispensable tool to gain a better understanding of the foreign environment I found myself in. I've continued to use photography to this end, helping me better navigate new places, events, and people.

Currently my primary method of distribution for my work has been through choosing the funniest photo I took that year, sticking it on a t-shirt and gifting it too my brother-in-law for his birthday. This has shown to not be the most prudent form of advertising, but he wears the shirts so I'm satisfied.

There are these small moments that pop up through a camera that are otherwise missed. It's the way a child looks at an ice cream cone and an impromptu joke that has a dinner table in stitches; it's the nervous energy before a performer goes on stage and the anticipation of the audience; it's little things that, when caught at the right time, show the vibrant scale of human emotion and connection. As I am partial towards greyscale photography, there is an added sense of nostalgia that connects these small moments––the shutter closes, and it's gone.

As someone far smarter than I once said, "In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary."

I have focused on photography in a serious capacity for around six years. It is a medium I keep coming back to and enjoy the process of continually improving and learning. I use a Nikon DSLR and have found a selection of lenses that work for my style––my main love being an 18-200mm beast that allows me to quietly capture moments without inserting myself into the scene. To keep things interesting, I often leave the digital screen turned off. Not only does this force me to evaluate what I'm seeing in the moment through the viewfinder, it provides a degree of excitement when I am able to review the images in the post-processing phase.

Early on in my career I took an opportunity to ask a group of acquaintances what the one piece of advice they'd give a young person was. There were CEOs, ranchers, business professionals, executives, and professional photographers at this table, many older than me by four some-odd decades. It was at the end of a very long, very hot day, wherein I had worked my first gig as a photographer for a youth agricultural event.

The answers I received at that table were as striking and poignant as the images I was fortunate enough to capture. I treasure both.

RUKHSAR ALI
Currently lending her passion to the Arts Commons team as the Marketing Coordinator for the summer months, Rukhsar Ali’s work is heavily influenced by science fiction, which informs her art and writing in its many forms.

Within the last few years, there’s been a huge influx of young South Asian artists from across the world creating and sharing digital art on Instagram and building an online community to explore topics that are relevant to us. At the end of 2019, I had also started to create digital vector art using Adobe Illustrator just for fun during my free time. I started creating artwork that was very specific to my Pakistani Canadian background and my love of the science fiction genre. Before long, with the encouragement of my friends and family, I started posting artwork to Instagram exploring my diasporic identity, cultural topics, science fiction, and more.

I primarily create digital art using a combination of vector and painting techniques, and also love to paint acrylics on canvas. I spend a lot of my time creating art after work and on weekends and also spend time each week shipping out art prints and stickers from my Etsy shop. I share most of my artwork (along with my creative writing) on Instagram and Twitter (@rukhsarxali). I do keep some of my work to myself and like to make personal artwork for my friends and family.

Digital artwork has allowed me to not only express myself but bring my thoughts on my identity and experience into existence. It also helps that it’s easy to share online so the support and feedback I get in comments and messages has been really rewarding too, and I’ve gotten to connect with amazing people across the world who share similar stories and can relate to my work.

I’ve been posting my artwork to Instagram since January 2020, and I love the versatility that digital art offers. Digital art allows me to explore a wide range of topics and styles from science fiction to spirituality, and comic style art to typography; I love that there’s no limit to what can be made with a laptop and drawing tablet and that helps keep me motivated to create and share more of my work.

My digital artwork has brought me opportunities to work with some wonderful people from across the globe. I’ve gotten to create artwork for a South Asian therapist in New Zealand, branding for multiple global STEM programs, and packaging for a small press-on nail business. I’m really proud of these collaborations because it’s surreal to see your own creations be a part of an organization’s brand and message. I really love that I’ve been able to help shape such great programs and businesses.

I also consider it a huge success anytime someone messages me that they connect with my artwork. It makes me want to keep creating art that explores topics we’ve only scratched the surface of as a community and bring more South Asian/Islamic themes to science fiction!

Opening my Redbubble and Etsy stores were big milestones for me as well.

JULY MANZANO
Whether at work or at home, July Manzano is always created beautiful things. At Arts Commons, she composes animations and videos, and designs both print and digital graphics to help excite audiences about the many events and offerings that are in store, and in her personal life she moves from the digital realm to the analog one with imaginative 3D creations.

Hey! I'm July Manzano – and I love art! I grew up in a house of artists and nerds. From films of all genres to comic books, to a deep love for calligraphy and type – my family loved the arts. Everyone loved something: illustration, filmography, makeup - I always had a soft spot for toys and plushies. Toys always inspired me to be creative in all my endeavors and have piqued my interest in stepping into the world of sculpting. When I was child, I looked up to my uncle Jaycee and his interests – one of them being collectable vinyl figures. Brands like KidRobot and Tokidoki are just a few brands I loved to see and collect growing up.

It wasn’t until high school when the notion of creating toys and figures through sculpting really came to the forefront of my mind. As project for my art class, the class was assigned a plastic skull to decorate in celebration of Day of the Dead. I took great liberties with my skull design – cutting open the jaw to have sit agape, creating antlers out of plasticene and even purchasing additional décor like jewels and jewelry for the piece. I was heavily inspired by fantasy YA graphic novels and anime – genres I still love to this day. My piece was immensely popular with the students and staff, that it was displayed at the front of the school for the rest of the semester. To this day, it is my proudest piece I have ever done.

In my teen years and into collage, I began dabbling with polymer clay. This medium requires pre-kneading of the clay to best sculpt with it. Its final form would require oven heat to keep its solid shape. I never purchased any special tools to create my pieces but merely used what I had: pencil ends, heads of needs, glue sticks (used as a makeshift rolling pin), etc. Most of works with polymer clay had been fanciful: dragons, owlbears and dinosaurs a like.

Early 2020, I wanted to create softer toys. During the first lockdown of COVID-19, I stumbled upon a needle felting kit online, and decided to try my hand at it. Needling felting requires wool and specialty needles. Creations are made by stabbing pieces of loose wool multiple times and shaping the wools as you go. It soon became a new hobby of mine, as I leaned into creating simple animals like frogs, bears and cows.

My favorite thing about making my creations – in illustration, animation, or sculptures - is seeing the joy that someone gets when viewing it for the first time. Often, I would give my creations as gifts to close friends of mine, and it is always a joy to see the looks on their faces when I gift them with a handmade sculpture of their choosing.

I primarily share my work on Instagram (@buboys_sketchbook) on my art account. I use Instagram as well as Pinterest as a hub for gathering inspiration for creativity – whether it be for work or play. I am always searching for inspiration to create. I do not stay too long in one medium. There isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not thinking about the next creative endeavor.