Meet Junia Jasmine Ryan, July's Featured Young Artist!

Junia Jasmine Ryan!

We are pleased to present graduating senior Junia Ryan as July’s Featured Young Artist! This thoughtful artist began working in the Painting Studio at AFH in the spring of 2010, and since then, her talent has been recognized by her peers and professionals. While she has worked for a variety of clients, including an unusual art form for Grand Circle Travel, her most recent commissioned piece was a collaboration on a giant mural for John Hancock! This fall, she will be headed to Syracuse University, but before she goes, we wanted to give her a proper send-off, AFH blog-style! Check out her works below and stop by AFH this summer to see what other awesome projects are being cooked up in the studios! 

AFH: How did you hear about AFH? 

JR: One of my friend's older sisters had worked at AFH when she was younger. She told me about it knowing that I loved to draw. 

AFH: Have you always worked in the Painting Studio? 

JR: Yes, I've been working in the Painting Studio since the beginning!

AFH: Describe one of your favorite paintings.

JR: This is a hard question... I have a hard time picking "favorites." I would have to say my favorite painting is the suitcase I painted for Grand Circle Travel. It was the first project I worked on in the painting studio that had a deadline for a client. It was so cool to paint on an actual object that isn’t typically used as a canvas. For the suitcase, I went with the theme of “memories,” and painted various Polaroids with images of various world landmarks on them. My thought process was that after you return from wherever you travel, you’ll still have your pictures as memories.

AFH: What types of things do you like to paint? 

JR: From that suitcase piece I realized that I like to paint things that are more detailed, structured, or specific. My paintings tend to be more realistic then abstract. I love details especially in painting buildings and bridges. I get a little OCD when it comes to perspectives. 

AFH: Are there any themes running through your art work? 

JR: Most of my paintings tend to be realistic - that's my style of painting - so I guess there really isn't a theme per say. If you look back in the past year and a half you'll see that I tend to stray away from portraits ALOT but in my current piece I'm challenging myself to actually paint one. 

AFH: What inspires you? 

JR: Anything can inspire me, from another artist's style to a song, or even just walking around the city. It all depends on the feeling I get when I look at something.

AFH: What are you going to study at Syracuse? 

JR: I will be in a 5 year Architecture program at Syracuse. I love to sing, so I might pick that up as a minor or maybe marketing, not sure yet. 

AFH: What first got you interested in Architecture? 

JR: I always loved to draw and I like math, so it seemed like the perfect blend of the two. Also I found myself looking at buildings as more than just walls and actually looking at the style of them inside and out.

AFH: What do you want to be when you're older? 

JR: A successful woman, and architect, who is a role model and inspires/positively influences the people around her with her work ethic, many talents, personality and smile.

AFH: Where do you see yourself in 6 years? 

JR: Already out of Syracuse with my degree and working for a large architecture firm in a city.

AFH: Who are some of your favorite artists? 

JR: All the mentors at AFH!

AFH: Describe the process of creating the mural for John Hancock. What was that like?

JR: We were told the piece had to be more graphic, and represent different parts of the city, so we thought that we'd do an over-exaggerated panorama of Boston's skyline. We only had four days to finish it, and it was huge... 8ft tall 12ft wide!! The panorama goes from the gas tank near Dorchester to the Waterfront/Financial district. 

AFH: Who else worked on the John Hancock piece with you? 

JR: Leon 'Tacoh' Dorsainvil and Wilton Tejeda, two teens who are also in the painting studio with me. We also got advice and tips from our painting mentor, Stephen Hamilton.

AFH: What was the coolest part about it? 

JR: The coolest part about it was the exaggeration of the picture and the color palette. It was also cool to collaborate with Tacoh and Willy on a huge piece that had such a quick deadline. We all put our different strengths and styles into it, and I think they blended together pretty well.

John Hancock's newest mural!

AFH: What were some of the challenges? 

JR: The biggest challenge was how to get the piece done well in such a short time. We were working some days from 11 in the morning until 9 at night to make sure we were able to finish it by the deadline. We did find some cool tactics. We laid the board on the floor and used rollers to blend the background. Then, we projected the sketch we had created onto the board, and marked out the lines, which made the process much faster!

AFH: What's it like making a commissioned painting for a client? 

JR: It's really fun knowing that it's specifically for a client and not just a "Because you felt like it" piece. You also feel a sense of responsibility and demand to please the client, which is a fun. You have to come up with something along the theme that they were going for, but that's still true to your style.

AFH: What do you think about Artists for Humanity – THE STORE?

JR: I think it's great that AFH made a store to sell our products! It's good for people to see all the things that we do and create!  

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