Smart Art
Teen Dreamer
Determined to become the next great artist, is a student from Somerset, UK, with a talent and a big dream too match. Jazmine Puttock, Jazz as her mates call her, is one of few students to be taking the new art degree offered at the local College of Arts and Technology. At a young age her ambitions for art were forming, now just over a decade later the 19 year old is following her dreams and on her way to becoming a big success. Not only has she directed her creative side at the conventional artistic skills required for her course, she also has other ideas on making herself the next best thing... When you were a wee nipper what did you want to be professionally when you were older? Well to be honest I am quite a cat lover so when I was really young I wanted to be a cat. Realising that I couldn’t do that I wanted to be everything going; a nurse, a pilot, a prostitute (laughs), I’m only joking.
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So when did you realise you wanted to be an artist? Well I didn’t have a defining moment really. I had always drawn pictures when I was growing up. I was no different from everyone else my age always drawing pictures and doing colouring books. For me it was a natural discovery rather than an immediate realisation. You hear when famous musicians and vocalists do interviews they always say I was bought up around music and it had always influenced them. Well I am exactly the same I was bought up
around colouring pencils and blank piece of paper to work to do my thing; which kid wasn’t. Standing out in such a creative industry such as art must be important, have you always stood out? To be frank, no. My work at secondary school never got to be shown as an example and was always shadowed by those who took everything too seriously. The idea of this for me was to have fun. Wait, wait, wait.. too seriously? Yeah, you see it all the time. I wonder how you can create something you like if all the time you are worried and so serious all time. I enjoy art and want it to stay that way, I don’t want to feel like it’s a chore, like its something I have to do instead of want to do. You study at Somerset College of Arts and Technology. Being
at an art college must be a good advantage? The lecturers really do bring out the best in you. I didn’t really enjoy the degree at first because everyone on the course was a lot older than me and I felt like they had more experience but they really guide you through the art but at the same time give you freedom to do your thing. You have such a long career ahead of you so this question may seem a bit odd but what is
to explore all artistic avenues. I watched this programme called Sexcetra on Virgin 1 and it had this artist who is minted because she paints people which ever way she wants and they print themselves on a blank canvas, that actually really inspired me. What direction do you want to go in with your art and is there an inspiration behind this? I really like abstract art and want to create something simple but amazing like Kazimir Malevich’s
“I REALLY WANT TO PAINT NAKED PEOPLE” your best piece of work you feel you have done? To get onto the degree we had to submit a portfolio of our work and within there was a self portrait. It was like a Van Gogh piece but we put our own interpretation on it. I did this weird thing where I used objects from photographs to make my face. I had to use the photos in relation to shades and shapes to represent the different features on my face.
Sounds good. During your course what other assignments will you have to complete? We visit a lot of museums across the country so we generally try to create different styles we see; Surrealism, Pop Art and next we have to complete Impressionism. We also have to do naked life class drawings (laughs hysterically)… and I cant wait! Least I’m getting
Black Square (1915). However, after watching Sexcetra I fell in love with Donna Marie’s art. The naked body imprints are really exciting to look at and each one is different from one another. Donna starts by sensing peoples auras and from this she decides the colour that will be painted on their body. Then focusing on their chakra’s and specific energy points on the body she paints them and lays them on a blank canvas in a way that she feels relates to the person and their auras. The exploration you can have with different people and artistic styles is what draws me to this art, although it’s so funny to think of naked people with paint all over them but it’s what I want to do. I really want to paint naked people! You are going through different art styles like Kleenex tissues,
what is it you want to achieve with your art before you are old and grey? Firstly I’m not getting old I’m going to top my-self long before that. A few years ago I saw on the news this guy, but I can’t remember his name, and he put loads of statues he had made under the sea in Cuba. The camera images were amazing and it was like a museum under the sea. I want to leave a legacy like that; something that will leave my mark on the world. A lot of people today say there isn’t enough money, if at all any, in the art industry. Does that put you off at all? I am under no illusions. It will be hard work and I will have to start of with an ordinary 9 to 5, paint in my free time and get some really good pieces under my belt. I just have to make sure my work is seen and that people show some interest and start asking me to paint them. This should really get the ball rolling and I hope that I will be able to start my own art studio and make my art business international if possible. With all these ambitions you are setting yourself some big goals, what if it doesn’t work out? I’ll be a cat instead.
To find out more about S.C.A.T courses visit www.somerset.ac.uk or to find more of Jazz’s work visit her facebook page http://www. facebook.com/JazzPuttock/albums/ artwork n
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