JCAM, Vol. 6, No. 1
Diego Poole My name is Diego Poole and I was born and raised in Charlotte NC, when my mother was still alive. To me personally Charlotte will always be a place dear to me due to the fact that it is the only place in life that I can truly say I was home and happy. It all changed when my mother died when I was only 3 or 4years old and was forced to move down Highway 74 to Union County, where I lived at Monroe and Marshville, NC most of my life. These places influence my work very much. None of my peers support me financially, but they encourage me to use my talents and be creative. I started to realize I was made for the art world when I was very young. I would usually draw anything, but students in my elementary classes were always choosing me to draw when it came to teaming up in a group drawing project. I also knew I was destined to create when I was given documents stating that I was known to have been drawing human features when I was only three years old. At the time I was just making art to just create it, so to me it was nothing special. But many people said I had a gift for it. Later as I grew up and went to college I started to actually make art out of my life experiences. This included things like dealing with my aunts who were alcoholic and money hungry. And I lived in a poor community filled with poverty. Gang violence was always around. I am just happy I did not turn out to be another statistic in my community. I lived in a house of thirteen people, so times were really tough when your growing up with brothers and cousins and uncles and others. We did not have much and could not afford the nice things, but we were still able to manage. I create art to express what I have been
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