We were lucky to catch up with Ava Jenkins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ava, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Art and creativity has played an integral part in my life, right from my very first memory. However, there was a time I veered towards other interests for awhile, and was set on becoming something very different from an artist. I grew up with my parents, who are both artists. I saw their passion for their livelihoods, but I also saw the stresses a career in art can bring. For several years I was committed to becoming an astronomer, as my wonder and curiosity at the beauty of the world lead me to want to discover more about it. As time passed, however, my love for making art never dwindled, while my love for math and physics (a vital part of astronomy) decreased to about a zero. It was hard to admit, but once I realized the passion I had for art had never truly left, I knew there was no better future for me than a career in art. I looked at my parents again, and saw that the joy in what they do far outweighed the stress that comes with it. Recently, as I have been reflecting on the last four years I have been working toward a Bachelor in Arts, I thought once more about how different my life would be had I persisted in astronomy. I have no doubt in my mind that I still would have found ways to stay creative and make art, and I would probably have been wishing I did something more with art. Art is part of my DNA, and inhabits every part of my life. I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else but being creative.
Ava, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Ava Jenkins, and to put it simply, I am an artist. I have been drawing and painting since I was a child. This August, I’ll be graduating Columbus State University with a Bachelor in Arts. My main focus and passion is oil painting– specifically portraits and figure studies. I strive to capture the essence of my subjects through painting. I am also a comic book artist, and have written and illustrated a few comic books, and currently working on my most recent one. I am most influenced by the techniques of the Baroque period; the intense emotions of Rubens, the stark lighting of Caravaggio, and the dynamic movement of Gentileschi all inspire me and influence the way I love to depict humans. It had been my dream to study art in one of the most influential areas for Baroque art: Italy. I spent many years saving up to study abroad, and I accomplished this goal in Fall 2022. I studied at the Florence University of the Arts, and the skills and techniques I learned there will continue to help me grow as a painter. I strive to find the beauty in this world and depict it in a way to help people find the beauty in themselves.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist (of any genre but specifically as a painter and comic illustrator) is making people happy. Nothing will ever match the feeling of seeing someone’s eyes light up at the sight of a portrait of their loved one, or seeing someone laugh at the joke I made in a comic. I think art isn’t always taken seriously as a vital part of humanity. Humans have been making art and expressing themselves since their very beginning, and its purposes span a very large area. Personally, I make art as a love language. Putting time and effort into something a loved one or a friend takes joy in is a special process, and I love to help clients out by creating paintings for them that make both the client and their loved one happy.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A deep-seated idea that I have had in me is that I should only make art to please an audience. Although making people happy is what I think is one of the most rewarding aspects of creating, I find it can stunt my growth as an artist if all I make is for other people. I have struggled unlearning this for several years, as I jumped into taking commissions at a relatively young age, and then I started college and began making art for assignments. It made it nearly impossible to enjoy making art for myself, if I even knew what I wanted to create in my free time. It took returning to an entirely different medium to get out of this mindset. I have always loved reading comic books, so much so that I wrote my first comic book when I was eight years old. I never thought to seriously pursue it, as I quickly fell in love with painting when I got older, and I no longer had the time. I recently took a narrative illustration class, and my love for it returned almost instantaneously. Suddenly, I was once again excited to create my own original art in my free time, and I didn’t care if anyone else liked it, because I genuinely enjoyed it. It was such a refreshing feeling, because it renewed my love for art, and reminded me that I can make art just for myself and create for creativity’s sake.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @abatheartist
- Other: E-mail: [email protected]
Image Credits
Andrea Corrona Jenkins (Personal Photo)