Summer 2018 Illesthetic Magazine Version 1 by Illesthetic Magazine

+PLUS AMIR DENNIS, SHERIE MURPHY, TANNER JUN, ELLA AUDREY RAE, RAIN SPANN, & ALEXANDRA WOODS

RAIN SPANN

READ ABOUT THIS UP AND COMING VISIONARY’S BRAND “ONEWING”

JULY 2018 2018 JULY

+PLUS AMIR DENNIS, SHERIE MURPHY, GET BEHIND THE LENS TANNERBASED JUN, WITH VIRGINIA ELLA AUDREY RAE, PHOTOGRAPHER AMINAH MCKENZIE & ALEXANDRA WOODS

AMINAH MCKENZIE COVER PHOTO SHOT AND STYLED BY JADE BROWN

COVER PHOTO SHOT AND STYLED BY AMINAH MCKENZIE

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ILLESTHETIC magazine J U LY 2 0 1 8

Art Director, Editor in Chief, Writer Calah Jones Writer Ashely Broadway Writer Corrine Harris

Writer Ali Pham Photographer Jade Brown

Photographer Andre Martin

TABLE OF CONTENTS... 3 Letter From The Editor 5 Alexandra Woods 9 Ta n n e r J u n 13 Aminah McKenzie 17 Rain Spann 23 Sherie Murphy 27 Ella Audrey Rae 31 Amir Dennis

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

his is the sixth issue of ILLESTHETIC Magazine (pronounced ill-aesthetic), an ArtByLuna

Collection publication, founded by Page Editor and Art Director Calah Jones. The first issue of this magazine was published in February of 2017 with the intentions to give young writers and journalists an opportunity to write for their own magazine and to feature local visual artists. With our success, we have been able to feature several visual artists in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas. Visual artists include, but are not limited to, sculptors, graphic designers, painters, photographers, illustrators, culinary artists, fashion designers, tattoo artists, and more.

The vision for ILLESTHETIC Magazine is to give these

artists the voice and audience they may not have. Visual arts are often overlooked. Knowing this, ILLESTHETIC Magazine's goal is to help change this perspective and give visual artists the audience they may not have had in the past. This magazine is quarterly, meaning there are four issues each year. Each magazine can be purchased as a hard copy by emailing us through our website at www.illestheticmag.com.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Calah Jones

CHRISTION RONEY

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photos by Andre Martin

ALEXANDRA WOODS S

ince she was a child, dance has been a part of Alexandra Woods’ life. At the age of 3, she began dancing but stopped shortly after. It wasn’t until the 7th

grade that she began to dance again. “I went to this dance camp and I was good at it. Someone from Steppin’ Out (a dance studio) told me I should dance there, so I did.” What began as a hobby, quickly transformed into a way of life for Woods. Now at the age of 21, she teaches dance, uses it for self-healing, and as a way to inspire others.V

Woods has learned several dance styles including lyrical, ballet, acro, tap,

and hip hop. However, her favorite style is jazz. The most difficult style for her to learn was ballet. She has worked with many different dance teachers from studios, dance teams, and college courses; all of which have inspired her equally. Her first dance coach, Diane O’Hare, had a tremendous amount of influence because she pushed Woods to keep going. Over the years, her view of dance and it’s meaning has changed. “Now that I’ve been doing it a while, I think it’s more about emotion than technique” says Woods. She prides herself on her ability to embody emotion in her movements versus having flawless technique.

“Dance is like an escape from everything. That’s what I use it for.” The

dancer has been able to work through various emotions using the art form. Woods prefers to choreograph her own pieces because she knows what feels best for her body, but she appreciates learning someone else’s choreography because it pushes her. She has choreographed pieces during times of grief, such as the passing of her great grandfather. In addition, she choreographed a piece that

helped to cope with sexual abuse. One of her proudest accomplishments was having the courage to post a video of the dance online. “A lot of people said that they have gotten help from watching that.” By sharing, Woods became an ally to many women who have also dealt with sexual abuse.

The video is only one testament to how the dancer uses her craft to help

others. Curr helped her cope ently, she teaches dance classes in Chesapeake, Virginia. For 6 years, Woods has taught dance to less privileged girls in Waverly, Virginia. In a town where there isn’t much to do, she created a safe space for children ages 4-16. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Woods gave her undivided attention and allowed young dancers to escape from their realities. This is only the beginning of the journey for Woods as she hopes to open her own studio in an underprivileged community.

The dancer has went to several dance competitions and conferences in

effort to become a stronger dancer. However, she discovered that her true passion is teaching dance rather than performing it. As a freshman, she entered Old Dominion University with intentions to major in dance. Soon after, she switched to an exercise science major with a minor in dance. Her next goal is going to PT school. However, Woods doesn’t plan to combine the two careers. Despite where she ends up, her goal is to continue spreading light and inspiration to anyone who encounters her.

by Corrine Harris

photo by Andre Martin

TANNER JUN T

anner Jun, originally from Bristow located in Northern Virginia, has a passion for all things art. She has been expressing herself through art for as long as she

can remember. Tanner emphasized that in middle and high school she has never felt the need to create, although she did, but as time went by Tanner discovered that being a creative artist is her true calling. “At this point in my life it almost makes me physically uncomfortable when I know I don’t have anything in the works or when I’m feeling blocked and don’t have any ideas,” she said. She feels as though if she did not have art in any form, she would feel much less connected with others. “I think I would feel much less meaning in my life if I didn’t have art,” Tanner said. Tanner explains how she goes through phases where she focuses on a different form of being creative. The multi-talented artist does everything from singing and writing her own songs to live painting at art events. “I am naturally inclined to be very analytical and also quite emotional so I think those things play a big part in the fact that I am so interested in expressing myself and creating in different ways,” she said.

Tanner does not want to label herself as an “artist”. In fact, the only time

she started seeing herself as artist was when she started writing her own songs, but even then she never label herself as an artist. “I really didn’t start to see myself as an artist until I started writing my own original music when I was about 13 or 14. That’s when I really felt like I was creating something that was all my own and I felt like an artist. Even at that time, I don’t think I ever called myself an artist, I still don’t a lot of the time. Even though I make art all the time. When I introduce myself to people in an artistic setting I tend to say, “I’m Tanner, I make art and music” rather than, “I’m Tanner, I’m an artist,” she expressed. Ultimately, she doesn’t think how it’s worded really matters because either way she feels like she is an artist.

photo by VybzBySimone

Painting is Tanner’s favorite creative outlet. She enjoys painting women

and flowers the most. Her favorite piece of work she has created is a painting of a nude woman in cool-toned colors on a really unique canvas made of wood. Tanner also enjoys live painting. In fact, her most memorable response to her artwork was during her very first live painting event. “I was almost in disbelief because I had been in my own little world painting and enjoying myself and the next thing I knew he was asking me how much money I wanted for my painting before I had even finished,” she said. She has done multiple live painting events at a local club in Norfolk called The Back. She strives to keep doing these events and shows because she feels it is giving her artwork more exposure, and also to network with local artist. She expressed that seeing and being around people who are creative inspires her. “I generally tend to feel inspired by seeing other people around me create, feel motivated, and succeed because then those vibes rub off on me and I want to do the same thing,” she said.

In the future Tanner has dreams of being able to live off of her artwork she

sells. She aspires to someday be someone’s favorite artist. Another dream of her is to paint a mural on the side of a building. Tanner’s advice to other artists is to network and consistently share your work. “Even if you don’t think it’s “good enough” yet. Just share it, get feedback, and make connections with other artists,” she said. Another word of advice she has for prospective artist is to not make excuses for yourself. “Allow yourself to flourish and be great,” she said, “Believe in yourself and get what you want, if you what you want is success or recognition for your art, make the steps to get there and you will get there.” Tanner feels that if people put out positive energy into the universe that it will come back and reward you.

by Ashley Broadway

photos by Aminah McKenzie

AMINAH MCKENZIE “I

t’s full of personality” says Aminah McKenzie. The 21-year old fashion photographer from Norfolk, Virginia. Although she predominantly works as a

fashion photographer, she also shoots portraits and weddings. Despite the type of photoshoot, she wants the personality of her work to be noticeable in all her photos. McKenzie began photographing in middle school, following in the footsteps of her mother who was also a wedding and portrait photographer. She initiated her career by photographing a flower with her mother’s camera. Ever since, photography has been a part of her life. To learn the craft, McKenzie learned a few things from her mother but mostly taught herself. In the 10th grade, she took a photography class which taught her to work with film. In addition, the photographer uses YouTube to learn about editing and other questions she has.

At the beginning of her career, McKenzie asked random people to model

for her shoots. Now, she pays attention to how the look and style of the model compliments her style of work. She also wants everyone she works with to benefit from her shoots. The photographer’s ultimate goal is to photograph for magazines. “I want them to fly me where they are to take pictures.” Specifically, the artist dreams to shoot for Teen Vogue because of how the magazine uses its platform. She appreciates the spectrum of topics the magazine covers: politics, feminism, and more. “They trying to get teens, teen females specifically, to see what’s going on in the world. That’s what I really like about it” says McKenzie. Surprisingly, the artist does not currently travel for her craft. She dreams of going to LA to continue her career and photograph for celebrities and magazines. McKenzie has also found an interest in shooting behind the scenes clips and hopes to expand upon that interest.

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McKenzie goes above and beyond to get the perfect shot. “I get in the

weirdest positions to get certain angles.” In addition, she also prides herself on creating what she calls “her own filter”. Majority of her photographs are colorful and vibrant due to the saturation she during editing. Although her work is breathtaking, her journey hasn’t been as effortless as it may seem. Recently, the artist faced a set back after dropping her camera in a lake. McKenzie spent roughly $1200 of her own money on the camera. After the incident, she became discouraged and didn’t shoot as often. She was able to find inspiration again through self-portraits.

The artist has received a lot of recognition for her talent thus far. In recent

years, she was featured on local news for her infamous Hobby Lobby photoshoot. The outcome of this shoot shed light on her exquisite skill and attention to detail. Although she has come a long way, McKenzie wishes she would’ve known her full potential when she was younger. In the beginning, the artist sought validation of her work from other people. At times, she would let their opinions discourage her. “You have to do it for you. Not because other people want you to do it or tell you how to do it.” The artist reminds herself not to compare her work and journey to other artists. All in all, she has made great strides and grown in confidence when it comes to her work.

The photographer advices new talent to use what they

have initially. “Use what you have and can at first and then eventually invest” says McKenzie.

McKenzie styles the models for her majority of her shoots using thrift

stores, Forever 21, and clothing apps. She even has an entire closet and dresser specifically for styling photoshoots. The artist is dedicated to her craft and aims to shoot at least three times a week. A lot of people weren’t supportive of McKenzie’s work when she first began due to her young age. However, that is only a testament of her self-determination. The photographer has taken her skills and developed work that is praise-worthy.

by Corrine Harris

photos by Aminah McKenzie

RAIN SPANN T

wenty year-old abstract artist Rain Spann was born in Alabama and moved to Oceanfront in Virginia Beach, Virginia in the first grade. Spann has

been making art since he was a little kid. “My love for art is just God given,” he expressed. “I don’t really know where it comes from but I’ve always been creating.”

Spann has known about his talent for a while and used to tell people that

he wanted to be an artist. “I draw, I paint, I sketch. I didn’t take it too seriously, though. I would do it and go and hide it or I just wouldn’t share it with anybody,” he said. “Art was just something I always did so I didn’t think of it as something important. It was natural.” It wasn’t until Spann’s senior year in high school when he was in an APR class that his art teacher recommended he take, that motivated him to work on his craft more. “That year,” Spann explained, “my mom, my aunt, and my teacher kept telling me, ‘You need to keep on doing this. Never stop and always move forward.’”

As an artist, Spann goes into his art with a plan with how he wants it to

look, but the plan never works out, he said. “It always finds itself drifting off but still coming together at the end.” Rain’s art consists of large mixed media paintings on canvas. He uses graphite, colored pencils, charcoal, oil pastels, ink, and acrylic paint in his work. Spann tries to merge his concepts into his pieces but still keeping the forms simple and organic. When he first began making art, it was less complex and more linework. Now, his art has developed in a way that attracts the eye using his unique shapes and bold colors, while still incorporating his unique linework.

Spann doesn’t consider his art to be solely abstract. He calls his art

“geometric organicism.” He uses blocks and geometric forms that shift to very organic faces and shapes. You can also compare his work to neo-expressionism or abstract expressionism or neo-surrealism. Spann’s work resembles American contemporary visual artist George Condo. “Someone told me that my work kind of resembled him and I didn’t know who he was, and when I started looking at his documentaries, it was crazy because he thought along the same lines that I thought in terms of our art. George Condo said he wanted to draw his paintings where you couldn’t even recognize what the mediums were in his work and I was like, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do,” Spann said.

photo by Jade Brown

photo by Rain Spann

Regardless of how talented this young artist is, he says that he is still

holding back with his work. Spann is learning that the art he makes is based off his feelings. A few years ago, he was in a depressing stage in life and was using art as a form of expression. During that time period to now, he learned that what he was going through wasn’t bad, it was just “a war between self-doubt and ambition”. Spann’s visual representations of self-doubt and ambition consistently appear throughout his artwork. Self-doubt is often drawn as a puppet or controlled figure in his work, whereas ambition is drawn as a one-winged angel.

“Onewing” was created by Spann as a saying for having “onewing

mentality.” Using the visual of a bird, which has two wings, one wing represents self-support and realizing that you don’t need support from other people in general to be successful. “It’s good to have, but if everyone just decided to up and leave and go support the next best thing, what else do you have? Yourself,” he explained.

The war between both self-doubt and ambition is just the recognition that

neither one of them are good by themselves. If you have too much self-doubt, it’s going to lead to depression and if you have too much ambition, it’s not going to be ambition anymore, it’s going to be greed. Having that balance is what’s really important to him. “You have to believe in yourself and have control over your own power and just have that confidence no matter what. You’re the only person who can judge how successful you’re going to be in life,” Spann said.

Although Spann is a painter, his favorite type of art happens to be

photography. “I don’t really want to get into it that much because I feel like if I do, I’m going to kind of stray away from painting. Painting is my focus right now,” he explained. Spann wants to get an opportunity for his first solo exhibition for his paintings before venturing off into different art. He has a lot of creative energy and is realizing that if he doesn’t channel it right, it’s not going to go in the right direction. Spann has been in group exhibitions from Norfolk, VA all the way to San Francisco, CA. “One of my mentors invited me to join a group exhibition out there last summer and I’m having another one in Times Square, New York this summer. There have been a few strong shows that have been good for me, I think,” he said. Spann will also be showcasing work in another exhibition in Courtland, VA from July 20th until September 9th this summer. The exhibition is called AB’STRAKT and is being curated by one of his peers, Calah Jones.

Most of Spann’s artwork is sold through his website, but other times people

will contact him directly and put down payments for work he hasn’t even finished yet. “I think I’ve only sold like 10 pieces. It’s nothing wrong with not selling a lot of art right now. Most people don’t really want to invest until you make a name for yourself,” he expressed.

Professionally, he aspires to continue painting but he doesn’t want to be

a starving artist. “I’ve never been rich or had a lot of money so struggling is not something that I hold to a high standard at all. A lot of people glorify the starving artist but there’s nothing glorified about starving. So, luckily enough for me I’m able to do something that’s going to make me a lot of money,” he said. Spann is studying computer engineering in school, something he said is going to be able to support his art so he can still be able to create, but still eat at the same time. “If I had to tell somebody that was in the same shoes that I was, I would say keep moving forward, don’t let the pressure stop you, and find new ways to express yourself.”

by Calah Jones

photos by Jade Brown

SHERIE MURPHY S

herie Murphy, born and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is a multitalent visual artist. Her artistic talents include, photography, painting, drawing, printmaking,

and graphic design. Sherie’s sophomore year in high school is when she discovered her love for art and photography. Sherie’s English teacher saw the potential one of Sherie’s drawings and encouraged her to expand and further pursue art. From there she continued to perfect her talents. Sherie’s first love is music but photography is her favorite out of everything she does.

“Photography is my favorite for right now, at least. Music is my first love

but I can't sing! I can’t do any of that. I’m creative, so I asked myself how could I intertwine these and that’s how I got started,” Sherie said, “I started with concert photography.” Concert photography is where two of her passions met. Two of her biggest inspirations are live performance photographers. “I am heavily inspired by Greg Noire, and Raven B. Varona. Especially Raven because being a female in is kind of hard, we get overlooked,” she expressed. She is also inspired by other female photographers because she understands how difficult it is being a woman in the film industry.

photos by Jade Brown

Although she started with concert photography, Sherie eventually moved

on to portrait, commercial and then editorial. She is mostly open to shooting anywhere including photography studio and even on the beach. In fact, her most memorable shoot was at the beach. “I remember I was shooting with this model, we did a shoot at the beach and it’s probably by far one of my favorite shoots that I have ever done. It was beyond me that I could ever do it because I only used my 50mm lens. I actually had to get in the water with him, and you know the 50mm lens can only go but so far. I was trying not to get knocked down by the waves with my camera in my hands,” she happily expressed. She describe the shoot as one of the greatest experiences in her photography career.

Sherie’s future plans are not as complex as many photographers. She

aspires to go on travel and shoot with artists. Sherie uses a full frame Canon 6D. She prefers Canon over Nikon. “Nikon has too many buttons and Canon is just simpler to use,” she explained. Sherie’s dreams push her to be a better artist and photographer. Her advice to other photographers or anyone seeking to find their path is to, “stay true to yourself and don’t compare yourself to somebody else’s work. You never know what they’ve been through, what it took for them to get there or how long they’ve been working on their craft,” she said. “That, for me, took a long a time to realize.”

by Ashley Broadway

photos by Ella Audrey Rae

ELLA AUDREY RAE E

lla Audrey Rae, born and raised in Hampton Roads, knew by the early age of six that art is her passion. She has a wide variety of talents including,

songwriting, producing, and dancing. “My love for the arts started very young. I needed a positive outlet that allowed be to handle bullying and the arts provided that,” Ella said. By the age of fifteen Ella found her niche in journalism and web design. Ella noticed the impact that the media has on society and her generation. She stresses how she wanted to bring positivity to her generation. Noticing this inspired her to create Gold Crwn Magazine. Instead of taking the traditional route and taking courses on what she was interested in, she taught herself everything she knows. “My mom always encouraged me to learn things on my own that I can’t afford to pay other people to do,” Ella expressed. “When I first started Gold Crwn, I had absolutely no help with starting it. I googled so much and found little on how to do much like working with pr, marketing, design, and so on, so I did trial and error for a lot of years until I finally figured out things that worked.” Ella currently is the Editor in Chief of Gold Crwn Magazine. She showcases independent and signed artist who bring forth positivity to her generation.

In addition to being the Editor in Chief of Gold Crwn Magazine, Ella is

creating what she calls, “a social world for girls.” It’s been a vision for Ella that is finally coming together after so many years. “As a young girl sites like SweetyHigh. com and MissOandFriends.com were such helpful aspects in dealing with growing up and bullying because they created a positive platform to be creative, learn and just a place of supportive people,” Ella expressed. GurlX is Ella’s favorite thing she has developed so far.

Ella is all about inspiring others as other’s continue to inspire her. “I had

a mother email me and tell me how much her daughter loved my magazine and how much she appreciated me creating something positive for her to read. It really helps push me when I want to give up,” Ella said. She hopes that any project she publishes empowers anyone to go after their passions and dreams. She claims the hardest thing about being a creative is not always follow what everyone else is doing. “The easier route is always tempting but I rather inspire change and positivity even if it only affects five people,” she said.. Her biggest inspiration is her mom. “She believed in my vision so much even if sometimes she didn’t understand it. I had so many dreams,” Ella said.

Moving forward Ella plans to create an art company with in house art

including, photography, web design, magazines, pr and much more. “It will be just a workplace full of art being created everyday,” she said. With Gurlx she plans to expand it offline. She also plans to work with more artist, actresses, and activists when GurlX launches. A dream of her is to create a festival like Coachella or BeautyCon but for art in Virginia.

by Ashley Broadway

photo by Ella Audrey Rae

AMIR DENNIS A

mir Dennis is a graphic designer who was born in New York but was raised in Richmond, Virginia. Dennis started his graphic design business when he

attended and worked at Old Dominion University where he did calendars, posters, shirts, and some work for the ODU football team. Dennis only went to ODU for three years and stated that “I felt that I had learned what I needed to from school and I never wanted to work for anyone else was already beginning to experience what being a freelance designer would be like.” Dennis wanted to become a graphic designer because he did not want to be a broke artist selling his own original art work and struggle with it. Dennis has been a graphic designer for six years and he first started off drawing pictures of people on his drawing tablet. Dennis now makes professional business logos and designs for his clients and he stated that “my designs are very minimal and modern.” Dennis said the hardest part about being a graphic designer is when his clients does not know what they want and he tries to focus more on clients who does know what they want. Dennis favorite artwork is minimalistic art and stated that “I gained a lot of influence from Sunday comics and from artists like Roy Lichtenstein.”

One logo Dennis made for a company was for the Elite Sole Loverz, a

sports streetwear clothing shoe store company in Sumter, South Carolina. Elite Sole Loverz sells streetwear and shoes for both men, women, and kids. Dennis made the logo with a red and black sneaker with the company’s name on top and EST. 2015 on the bottom. Another company logo Dennis made was for a restaurant Suhweet Rootz Vegan Delights. It has a woman holding and eating honey in her hand and it

photo by Amir Dennis

has the words Suhweet Rootz on top and Vegan delights on the bottom. The logo is outlined with black hair. Dennis also made a logo for a lip sync battle company called Fake The Funk Lip Sync Battle. The logo has the name of the company surrounded by colorful shapes, a microphone, and music notes. Dennis said he is very open to criticism and when asked about what does graphic design mean to him, he said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Graphic deisgn is 50% of my brain. Creativity is the other 50%.â&#x20AC;? Interesting fact about Dennis is that he does not like the word collaboration because he thinks any work you do for someone is already a collaboration together. Dennis said he had done an artwork where he designed a hat with the show Martin and flipped it into Melanin. Dennis said many people are attracted to his artwork because of his creativity and artistic ability and also professionalism. Dennis thinks the graphic design industry is growing and he also thinks people will not be going to school in the future because graphic design is something people can teach themselves. Dennis also has interests in doing print work, interior design, and web development whenever he finishes a graphic design project. Dennis has a strong passion to continue to do better and better with his graphic design business and will never let graphic design out of his mind. Dennis has done artwork for many small businesses such as a barbershop, a church, and a shoe store. Dennis has the skills to find bigger companies and turn small ones into big ones with his talent of creative graphic design logos. Nobody knows what company Dennis has in his mind next, but Dennis knows he can help a company to make a logo. Dennis could be a perfect potential fit for any business looking for a graphic design logo maker.

by Ali Pham

ILLESTHETIC Visual Arts Magazine was published by ArtByLuna Collections.