Seed DGR Magazine by Seed Deep Grass Roots Magazine

sep

2015

Thank you for purchasing the first issue of Seed DGR. We aspire to highlight and promote a number of talented individuals with unique artistic direction and perspective. For more information on how you can exhibit your own work, turn to page 27. Thank you again, and we hope you enjoy. Founded, designed, and edited by Kiante Hadden and Mike Peters.

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ERIN FITZGERALD TILLY THE ARTIST MANNY HOLMES LUNNA RODRIGUEZ ABSTRACT JEFFREY PAIGE MESSIAH THE RAPPER SMEW / LAMOE

ERIN FITZGERALD What made you want to study Graphic Design as opposed to Video Game Design? “I really didn’t know what Graphic design was, all I knew is that I wanted to go into some kind of artistic field that could make money. I’m still planning on getting a degree in Video Game design, though.” Did your parents create artworks as well? Where would you say your artistic talents came from? “No. My family really doesn’t know where it came from. I’m the only one in my family that plays music – I’m really the only one in my family that does anything like this. I’ve always doodled; I doodled in class and I used to get in trouble for it. I have always just done something.

this more than anything.” What’s the motivation behind your art? “I actually started these doodles because I’d been burned out on school work. Solely doing projects for school has been debilitating because it’s hard to focus on something that you are not necessarily passionate about but having to keep pushing through it. I would hate to not love what I do, that’s the entire reason I’m in debt for the next 10 years of my life; I like doing this and I wanted to learn how to be better. You have to teach yourself that your imperfections can work for you and give you style.”

In the instance that I didn’t draw, I would fall asleep because class was boring. I mean, I was good in school, but I liked doing

Tatiana Barclay, also referred to as Tati or Tilly (The Artist), introduces uncommon and intriguing visual portraits that capture her identity, emotions, and events of her life.

What would you say first triggered you to act on a creative impulse and make the art that you do now? “Well, I get inspired by everything that I see. I’m very inspired by people I interact with or music I listen to, whatever other people create. With my artistic style, I tend to have a “planned chaos” with what I do; most of my art is both cohesive and nonsensical. Like, I have control over what I do, but at the same time, it looks like, “What the hell did she do?” In that regard, I’d have to say it began with suddenly wanting to just let my emotions out on paper,

which usually consisted of anger or frustration at that point in my life, and allowing it to form into what it is not.” What’s something specifically notable across your different works that visually represents your artistic approach? “My personality is definitely apparent in my pieces, but in a way that contrasts with how I’m perceived as a person versus how I’m perceived as an artist. That being said, those individual qualities are characterized through a consistency of specific line work, color schemes, subject matters, texture, and choice of mediums. It definitely portrays personality.” Do you have any cultural influences? “Well, I kind of fuck around everyday and call myself a queen because I’m African and I take pride in my African roots. My septum piercing, my natural hair, my skin color, and whatever else that makes me feel

more connected to my heritage helps me express who I really am; it just lets me be myself. That’s very important when it comes to what I create.” So, exactly who or what are some of your biggest inspirations? “I would say my father. He has been through so much since he came to America, and he’s still fighting everyday. That gives me a reason to go for it and push on, because I know that if he can do what he did and be where he is today, then so can I. Where there’s a

will, there’s a way.” What do you feel you’re trying to accomplish with your work? “Well, my goal is to tell my story and share my life experiences, to show people what it’s like to be inside the head of Tilly. I want people to embrace being different and to stop being scared of who they are.”

UNTITLED JAMES SMALLS

“LIVE IN YOUR WORK, AND REAP THE BENEFITS”

MANNY HOLMES What would you say defines your style? “I’d say my style is really defined by personal interest. Just growing up and seeing a lot of stuff; I got exposed to a lot of creative shit. Style defines me.” What purpose do you believe art serves? “I can only speak for myself in this sense, but I find it to be therapeutic, or rather a way of releasing emotion. Everybody has their own outlets of what they do. When I’m sitting down, I tend to put that energy towards something beautiful. Like, if I had a terrible day, I sit down and I channel all of that energy towards putting that into pure art. I thank God for that.” What would you say the seed of your inspiration is? “I had this one class in the eighth grade...The teacher was absolutely terrible. I’ve always done it for myself,

but the instructor really got me into it, and helped me developed what I do with my craft now. And that’s from years of trying to improve my art by observing other’s work. That’s why I say I’m inspired by other people’s art, because I’m not necessarily competing with them, but I am competing with them - if you know what I’m saying. Seeing their art work is like, ‘They’re good, my stuff is good, but it could be better.’ You can always gather some bit of information and inspiration from other artists, and that’s what keeps me going.”

LUNNA RODRIGUEZ What makes your art what it is and unique to you? “I don’t feel like I’ve fully developed my art. It really all comes from things that I like, many of which could be considered nostalgic, or from what I see in my head. I don’t know; everything that I’ve done just feels like practices of different technical skills, but none of it necessarily means anything specific or important. It’s more for myself, if anything.” What is the meaning of art to you?

the art you make here? Is it basically a hobby, or do you plan on doing something with it in the future? “I think I’m going to stick with video. Films are more interesting to me, and I would rather create music videos, where I can shoot random things and edit it all together.” How do you want to impact those that view your work? “I would want to inspire people to be more creative and to express themselves more often.”

“Wow, I could go on and on about that. I’d have to say that the meaning of art is to be nothing more or less than that; just art. Because, I don’t know, I feel like art is everything and anything. It’s all a matter of how we choose to perceive it and what it makes us feel or think on a personal level.” We understand you’re studying Film right now. How does that correlate to

Who or what are some of your biggest inspirations? “Jesus had bars in the Bible. He had verses on verses.”

Julian Harrell, better known as Abstract, exhibits a deep connection with hiphop, declaring that it’s more than music; it’s a way of life. Abstract strives to excel and push himself to the next level with each track he creates, in hopes of sharing and gaining opinions throughout the world. How would you define your style? “Shit, uh, a style that is more so an idea and not an actual style. You know how, like, Bruce Lee says, ‘Be like water and take the form of the glass,’ or something like that? Well, substitute the glass for the instrumental and the water for my lyrics.”

Do you suppose your music is meant to provoke thought, or is it more so aesthetic? “I want my music to preach the value of being unique but at the same time being able to mold with others. Actually, you know what, scratch that. Basically, my music intends to have people moving – whether it’s their heads or their bodies – but their mind is working, and they might not know it. To learn something without knowing you’re learning it. Like, you know when Daniel was in The Karate Kid (1984) and he was cleaning that windshield? And he’s like, ‘Why the fuck am I doing this?’ Yet he was actually learning the whole time, without even being

aware of it. Word up.” What do you feel your work represents about yourself? “I feel like what represents me is my name. Any dictionary or online reference or whatever you use to look up the definition of Abstract, it’ll basically tell you that it’s an idea that lacks any actual physical existence. It’s a thought, and not an actual object – or person, in this case. When I started out doing this rap shit, I was pretty young and I was this logical little dude and I figured that I can’t expect people to think I’m “real” if I don’t even know what’s “real” about myself. The name alone opened up the path; to make music that comes from a real place while presenting something that isn’t exactly concrete. Because I might not agree with it later on down the road, thus I feel as though it presents growth and progression.”

CEMENTALITY MIKE PETERS

“YOU DESERVE TO BE HAPPIERTHAN YOU ARE.”

CATERPILLAR LAND KEY PAINTS

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT ANYONE ELSE’S OPINION, BECAUSE NO ONE’S TAKING SCORE”

Jeffrey “Jazz” Paige is a digital illustrator with a fresh style and keen sense for what he coins as precision design. Jeff currently freelances under Pozitive Designs, and his work is feautured on our front cover.

Do you have any ma jor influences? “Kanye [West], haha.”

How so? “So, I enjoy listening to music; I’d say music definitely inspires me. Usually, I pretty much chill and hear all these cats out there rapping and doing their thing. I tend to get inspiration every now and again from musicians and artists who present originality. I believe when it comes to respect, recognition, fame, or whatever else like that, people tend to be more interested and respond more to those who keep it real. It’s, like, more intimate. I like to focus on individuals in my work, not necessarily one big trend.”

What’s the background behind your artistic ideology? “I’ve always enjoyed to draw, but to be honest, I’ve wanted a nice car ever since I was a young kid, haha. Like, a Porsche or something. I figured I needed money to get one, but I still wanted to do something with art. I know it seems unlikely for a Porsche, but I decided I wanted to pursue graphic arts to make something of myself. Eventually, I ended up seeing a lot of cool work on social sites like Instagram and Tumblr, and I started to notice a lot of different styles and adapting them to my own.” How would you describe your art? “Precision. I’m particular about details, clean lines, interesting color schemes, stuff like that.” So, you’d say your art is more so for the aesthetics? “For sure. Everyone likes to look at something nice and fashionable. Then you take it a step further and start

to notice the technicalities of it all, wondering how something was drawn or where something was placed or why a certain color was chosen. That’s where I stop putting any more thought into it, though, because I want people to choose whether or not they want to further interpret the piece, or if they’re fine with simply acknowledging it. It’s simple, and it’s complex.” How long do you plan on creating these graphics and illustrations? “I don’t really know. I definitely want to do it for a long time, and I want my art to expand to other fields, such as clothes or advertisements or whatever. But, I think once I’m older, I’m gonna try

messing with traditional fine art again.” What’s your opinion on the work that’s produced today, considering there are a fair amount of artists who are bringing styles similar to yours? “To be real, I think that many designers and illustrators today lack passion in their work. You can look around at several different products, especially in fashion, where the quality of graphics has dropped. There’s a clear difference between brands, no matter how successful they might be, who hire graphic artists with passion and skill and those who don’t. The difference is shown in how upheld the status of a product or brand is. For example, think about the stuff Supreme pushes, then think of Wal-Mart’s graphic tees. I’m positive I’m bringing something better to the table.”

SNEAKER FF. What’s the story behind Sneaker?

What do you think makes your store so successful?

“I have always wanted to open a store and follow my passion for sneakers and fashion. The name Sneaker came from a day on the beach, brainstorming with my cousin. I did not know the name would formulate like this, but it just so happened to fit perfectly with the location I settled into.”

“Its unique location and the friendly atmosphere. I work six days a week and I give every customer the attention they need. This has allowed me to create strong relationships within the community of Charleston. It is rare these days you will find the owner in the shop working and that’s a big part of my shopping experience.”

How long have you been around? “I started SneakerFF back in November 2012 and have been open now for almost three years. I continue to work hard each day so that I can one day reach twenty years.”

Any final remarks for the readers? “All I have left to say is that if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it.”

MESSIAH DA RAPPER How would you define art?

sayings to live by?

“It’s an outlet that people use to express themselves. Because it doesn’t really have to be anything that makes someone else happy, it’s what makes you happy. I really don’t even think that there is such a thing as ‘good’ art, either. People just tend to like one thing more than the other.”

“Motherfuckers are like pennies; they’re two-faced and worthless.”

Do you bring that mentality into your music? “Of course. I’m sharing my story, sharing myself. People might go to school and they might get jobs and they might take lessons for whatever, but people really learn through experience. There’s no denying that.”

If you could go forwards or backwards in time, where would you go and why? “I’d probably go back in time and meet influential figures of peace throughout history. Like Gandhi and stuff like that, because it’s hard to understand the mind set of a man that was so peaceful, yet he would put harm to himself so he could protect others. That would be amazing, man; it’s all about respect.”

What kind of content is present in your lyrics? “It’s really whatever going on in my life. But it’s all authentic, all real, all me. It comes from my soul.” Where are you from? “The big 864!” What’s one of your favorite

DRUNK CARLOS TANNER

“DRUNK WORDS ARE SOBER THOUGHTS”

Graffiti is, by all means, illicit vandalism on public and private property. However, it has also grown to become widely renown for its artistic, individualistic, social, and political values. In the U.S., graffiti blossomed in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, stemming from local gangs and prison inmates who wanted to instill their presence and authority. That is, until kids began to become interested in the letterforms, ultimately blowing up the letters into different bubble styles and complicated pieces. To law enforcement,

though, a ma jority of graffiti started to become primarily associated with gang activity and violence.

As the ma jor cities grew dense with numerous â&#x20AC;&#x153;writersâ&#x20AC;? and artists, authorities took note and began to take graffiti more seriously. The risk of facing arrest and imprisonment, as well as a growing feud between the writers and law enforcement, pushed many

artists to move to various other cities, bringing along their own unique styles and mentalities with them. Eventually, the art reached popular cities all over the country. Charleston became the training grounds for many writers, and paved the way for specific styles in the Southeast. At a certain point, as many expected, Charleston cracked down on the graffiti scene and cleaned its many walls, signs, posts, boxes, and the sort. Since then, it rarely reappeared in the city, and the scene became considered “dead.” Subsequently, many new artists started to appear in the city, and have since aimed to make it thrive once more. Two current artists who share this belief are SMEW, and LAMOE.

What do you write? “SMEW, SMEW ONE, SMEWER, and SMEWS.” What’s with all those variations of your name? “It’s something I picked up back home, but it’s common to see that in graff. The one with the number actually denotes the generation of that name, since several writers use the same name sometimes, so it distinguishes who’s who or who came before who, etc. As far as the rest are concerned, I think of it as messing around and switching it up on everyone, but it does help throw off pigs and city officials. Four sets of handstyles are better than one.” What does SMEW mean? “One day, I ended up randomly putting letters together. I really liked how the letters of SMEW looked together, so I chose to stick with that. But I did look it up at one point, and found out it’s a duck. It actually looks sort of cool.” Is there a specific style that

friends changed one of the letters, I kind of goofed around with it, and came up with the name.” What is your favorite thing about graffiti? you practice, or do you have your own? “If I had to generalize my style, I’d say I identify more with the styles from Boston, and Philly as well. When it comes to piecing, though, I try to paint something that’s both funky and modern. The Southeast has a knack for that, it’s a big influence.” Any advice for upcoming graffiti artists? “Practice! Get that shit right on paper first before you make yourself and the graff community look bad. Be smart, and lose the ego.” What do you write?

“I love the rush. Cops might be running to catch us because it’s their job, but we have to run because a lot of us can’t afford to fuck up our lives by getting arrested and thrown in jail, especially if you get up a lot. That thrill is a feeling like no other. It’s even better when you get away with it.” Do you ever make money with your talent? “Haha, yeah, nothing wrong with that!” Finally, any advice for those starting up? “Stick to the pen and paper first; don’t come out looking stupid!”

“I write LAMOE, LAMEO, and sometimes LAME.” And what does that mean? “I used to write my last name when I lived in ATL, but I ended up getting in trouble with it. One of my

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