July AoM: Jini Manard.
Hello, Gentle Readers-- I'm baaaaack. I'm not going to ask if you missed me; I will just assume the answer is "Yes" and get this show on the road. Summertime is upon us! Summer is a funny season. Depending on where you live in the world, your winter-times can actually be pretty nice. Florida, for example, maintains a nice balmy climate while northern states are snowed in and huddling together naked for warmth. However, it seems that no matter where you live (well, unless it's the Southern Hemisphere and your summer is really your winter..), summer is pretty miserable. It's always at least 10 degrees hotter than what is comfortable and it is usually also humid. Sure, some areas are less humid than others but let's face it, being hot is bad enough without having to deal with your underwear sticking to your butt crack because your ass is so sweaty.
I digress.
The coming of summer also means vacation! For school aged kids and teachers, at least. And also for college students, which is what this month's Featured Artist is. Jini Manard is a recent graduate from Old Dominion University in the great state of Virginia. When asked about her education she explained that her original intention was to earn a BA in Art Education. She eventually decided to turn it up that extra little bit to 11 and go the double major route, and graduated with both a BA in Art Studio and a BS in Psychology. (And a minor in Japanese, to boot! Color us impressed.) We inquired as to what her career goals are now that she's got all those fancy diplomas on her wall, and she told us that she STILL isn't finished with school! She is making preparations to take the GRE at some point this summer, and is also shopping around for a Master of Library Sciences program in which to enroll-- Good luck to her on that!
I have the pleasure of knowing Ms. Manard personally and got to follow her progression through her art coursework via her Twitter (which, coincidentally, is also how Bored in the Basement found her!), so when I heard that she was going to be July's Artist of the Month I was pretty excited to see what she would come up with. Her designs do not disappoint! She describes her style as varying between art nouveau and minimalist, depending on what type of art she is producing, and says that between her education and her extensive experience designing art for t-shirts really wasn't anything new to her, although it does require some attention to the amount of detail in the design (to ensure that it prints correctly and clearly on the shirt.)
One burning question in my mind was "What's up with the buttstache?" I'm sure you can all relate. Jini says that the credit for this one goes to her boyfriend, who uses that term as a reference to tramp stamp tattoos-- You'll notice the super bitchin' totally hardcore kick ass tribal design incorporated into the 'stache. As for her other designs, she tells us that they're more or less just stuff she likes. And let's face it, octopi (octopuses, whatever) and tigers are pretty darn fantastic. Seemingly a little random, yes, but she also told us that the inspiration for her art generally comes from "all over" (that's a direct quote) so in that respect, I suppose it makes plenty of sense!
As far as how she got into the whole art thing, Jini's response isn't too terribly different from what I find most of the artists tend to say. I don't think I've encountered one yet who has told me that they just randomly picked up art as a hobby in their twenties, discovered they were really good at it, and ran with it. Which isn't to say it doesn't happen! Just not all that often, it seems. She cites both of her parents as influences, saying that while her dad is very left brained with some technical artistic ability, her mom is very right brained. Seems to have resulted in an excellent combination! She tells us that once she got her hands on a decent computer as a teenager she began doing coding and web design, and from there developed her interest in art and graphic design. So, for the most part, it has been a life-long passion.
When asked what her idea career would be-- art, psychology, or both-- Jini says that her career plans as they are right now more or less fulfill that ideal for her. She plans to obtain a Master of Library Sciences degree and begin work in creating educational media and/or preservation, the best of both worlds if you will. However.. if she had to pick a dream job it would be one that involved "an average desk in an average office where I can just sit and make clip art all day." Well, Jini.. whether the former or the latter is what comes true for you, we wish you luck either way, and thank you once again for being July's Artist of the Month here at Bored in the Basement!
- R. Riot.
