Fashion: Art and Early Age

What I love about fashion is how it can define you as a person. The colours you choose, the styles, the accessories, they all combine to give you an overall style that is unique to you.
I enjoy experimenting with fashion, seeing what works and what does not, and working out why it doesn’t work. I had some major fashion disasters, but have learnt from them and so have developed my own sense of style.

From an early age, I have found Art fascinating. I believe Art disputes claims of humans being just boring biological machines. Art allows me to transform images in my mind into something tangible. The ability to convert imagination into reality intrigues me. It is something I don't find in my other subjects though they are undoubtedly informative. The hunger of expressing my creativity wasn't fed through Science, yet I greatly enjoyed the aspect of problem solving. It wasn't until my first Design assignment in IGCSE that I found myself integrating both creativity and problem solving. I loved it and knew that Design was what I wanted to do.
This transformation in perspective came after a period where I lacked confidence in my work. That changed when I received the highest grade in my class for that first assignment. Ever since, I have learnt to believe in my capabilities. I consider confidence vital in the Design world. Without it, you would not allow yourself to take risks and experiment in new ways.
My ultimate goal in life is to help people, especially those less able. My dream is to design things that ease their daily struggle. Some people can help world suffering such as doctors. If I were to take on such a career I would certainly help people, however I would have to repress my creativity and would lack interest in the profession. I feel that Industrial product design opens wide doors to the world I am passionate about. A world that allows me to fulfill my goal whilst having the utmost interest in achieving it.

I have always enjoyed Art from an early age. My earliest memory of this is doodling on sheets of computer paper and cutting up old Christmas cards to make new images. I can remember spending most of my childhood just drawing and being inspired to make and design anything and everything! This love of Art has stayed with me and developed and grown and, now, I cannot imagine wanting to do anything else.
I have always wanted to work within the Art and Design industry because it has always felt like the right direction for me to take. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go to an Art school and I now feel really lucky to have the opportunity to do so: I am feeling very excited about my future!
I enjoy being creative and I view Art as a natural way for me to express myself. I particularly enjoy drawing and how this allows me to create images in a way that I see them. I enjoy working in a figurative and detailed way and I aim to make my work expressive and visually interesting through tone and mark-making. I feel, from my progression from G.C.S.E through A Levels to A.V.C.E, I am beginning to develop my own style and way of working. I particularly enjoy portraiture work and using animals as subject matter.

I enjoy visiting Art Galleries and exhibitions. I am particularly interested in figurative portraiture and Illustration-based exhibitions. I have recently visited an exhibition about drawing styles at my local Art Gallery. I found this very interesting as there were varied styles and approaches to drawing( I especially liked Posy Simmons use of storyboards). A few months ago I visited an exhibition for childrens illustrator Shirley Hughes at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. This had a great impact on me and was one of the factors that has led to me pursuing a career in Illustration. I love the way she combines her use of image against text and the way she uses media expressively. At this stage, I am interested in childrens book illustration as there are so many quality, contemporary illustrations at the moment that I find inspiring. I see illustrations for childrens books as something worthwhile and or importance. They can capture a childs imagination and inspire and motivate them to learn to read.
I have worked for the past three years at a bakery as a part-time counter assistant. This involves such duties as dealing with customers, dealing with money and organising displays. I have really enjoyed this job as we are a fairly busy shop and so I meet a lot of different people and I find this very rewarding. Prior to this, I have worked voluntarily at a local vets practise. I found this very interesting because I like animals and this was a chance for me to learn more about them. I have also been involved in an activity group for disabled children . This experience was invaluable to me as I met such interesting and amazing people. The group activities included Art and Crafts and this taught me how Art can be therapeutic and< basically, just a worthwhile form of expression.
My main interests & hobbies lie in the Arts, Film and photography. I enjoy taking photographs and have had photos used by both Amnesty International and local newspapers. I visit the cinema at least once a week with friends; I especially like films of a documentary nature that give an insight into life of another culture. I find cinematography a particularily interesting aspect, how a freeze frame of a moment can be transformed into a single beautiful image. I also like to visit art galleries, particularly a local independent gallery called Catalyst Arts. I plan on submitting work to their next member's show in the near future. I like deciphering the message behind other people's work and looking for where they drew their inspiration from when I visit galleries. I usually go with friends as discussing each other's interpretation of the works afterwards is always very interesting. At the weekend I enjoy going to see bands, both signed & unsigned, and hearing music of many different genres. Any other spare time I have I spend on art & design work, and often submit art to things like charity auctions and competitions.