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Make it personal

posted by Jean Kim at 8:14 pm.

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I’m a Vanity Fair enthusiast (the magazine, for those who don’t know). And if you’re as obsessed with that magazine as I am, you’re probably familiar with the Proust questionnaire on the back page of the magazine. The Proust questionnaire supposedly reveals your personality. Wikipedia it.

So, as an art blogger, I thought it’d be a cool idea to do casual, mini interviews with local artists, and throw in some Proust questionnaire questions in there, too. Maybe this will make the CU art community more personal.

I went to Cakes on Walnut because I love cupcakes, and I saw Caroline Jones’ art work up. I mean, it was hard to miss the vibrant colors. So I asked one of the waitresses if I could take pictures, and she wasn’t sure, so she hooked me up with Caroline’s email address. I finally got a chance to sit down and chat with her today.

Caroline Jones

Age: 18 (I had no idea she was so young! I mean, I’m only two years older than her, but still!)

School/degree: Just graduated from The High School of St. Thomas More, will be attending Parsons The New School of Design in New York this coming fall.

Hometown: Urbana

So tell me about your pieces here. They’re from a collection I did this past year starting in January, and I finished in May. But they were for an Advanced Placement art class and we had to basically create pieces with a theme. So I wanted to do something with bright, saturated colors mixed in with really modified, contoured lines, like those black lines. For me, it was more like an experimental project because I mixed in a lot of different media. Like, the base is made with acrylic paint, and the black is oil, and I put glass. And I thought maybe by using those different elements, I would create more of a dimension since using bright colors might make it seem flat.

What were you inspired by? What were you trying to convey through these pieces? A lot of it was experimental, but I also wanted to show myself because I’m a colorful person. I like color a lot. I guess that one is really me because I like to salsa and I like to dance so I took the vibrations of the music and rhythm I put how I feel about salsa.

On the phone you mentioned you were painting the bathrooms here (at Cakes on Walnut)? Yeah, I just finished the women’s bathroom and I’m gonna start the men’s bathroom next week.

I haven’t been in there yet, but is it like, your work on the walls? Oh, no. I actually painted it with like rollers and stuff. But again, like, I used bright colors because the bathroom was really plain before, just like white walls. I used the theme of using one black line, but each wall has a different theme. I’m going to do the men’s bathroom hopefully next week, still not sure yet.

Any favorite artists or inspirations? I really like Nava Lubelski. She’s a painter. She also makes tablecloths, but she’s really experimental. She uses thread in her paintings, and cuts holes out of them, I don’t know. She’s really crazy, I like it. And I like the colors she uses.

When did you start creating your own art? I can’t even remember. I think maybe fifth grade?

Do you have any mentors? Probably my teacher that I just had and my parents.

Are your parents artists? No, but they try to inspire me. They’ll give me ideas on what I could do, or if I complete a piece they’ll really praise me for it to motivate me. They’re really supportive of what I want to do, it’s great.

Yeah, that’s the one thing that you need, you know? Support from those around you. Do you have a favorite medium? Not really. I guess I really like oils and acrylics. I think I still need to do more experimenting to find out which one I like.

So would you call yourself a painter? Not really. I’m going to be studying fashion design, so I’m more of a designer.

In your opinion, what makes art or an artist “good”? What makes a piece “good”? Something that someone spent a lot of time on. Something that has a lot of meaning. Really well rounded within the principles and elements of art, they’ve captured every piece of principle and element.

Ever hear of the Proust questionnaire? (I took the liberty of selecting a few questions from the original Proust questionnaire to ask Caroline, in an attempt to show a bit of her personality)

Favorite virtue? The only one I can think off the top of my head is temperance, I think that’s a virtue, which is self-control. This sounds really funny but it takes a lot of self-control to control eating for me and working out.

I hear you!

Favorite occupation? Friends. I love being around people and crowded areas. And I just love the interaction of different energies and personalities.

Your idea of happiness? Being loved.

Misery? Being alone.

If you were to be anyone else, dead or alive, who would you be? That’s a really hard question. I don’t know.

Where would you like to live? Probably in Spain. I’ve always wanted to see Europe, I haven’t been there yet, but I think I’d really enjoy it there. There’s a lot of culture and food and people, I’d really like that. I took Spanish for a while, and I’d really like to put it to use.

Favorite color and flower? Lavender, aqua, pink, magenta, and a celery green, or a green tea green. I like white lilies and red begonias and probably honeysuckle and lilacs. I have a lot of favorites.

Favorite painters, other than Nava Lubelski? I guess I like Salvadore Dali, I like the surrealistic style. His paintings are just out of the extraordinary. I also like Edward Hopper. His paintings are just so perfect.

Favorite composers? I listen to a lot of Latin music and some indie music.

Favorite food and drink? I like coffee and I like Asian cuisine and Italian cuisine.

Your present state of mind? Disorganized. It’s summer. I’m trying to get everything together so I can move.

Your motto? I don’t think I have one yet. I’m still trying to figure things out. I’m in that direction of discovering myself. I guess everyone is. Yeah, I’m not sure.

Future plans include Parsons? Yeah, I’m gonna study fashion design. Probably intern with some fashion designers.

Favorite designers? I like Marc Jacobs because his creations are so artistic. But I also like Oscar de la Renta. He’s so elegant and he really knows a woman’s shape.

Do you plan on any other shows? Maybe. I was thinking about starting an impressionist collection. But I don’t know how long that’ll take. Hopefully I can get it done before I leave here.

Contact Caroline with any further questions, or to purchase her work at cr_jones16@yahoo.com

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