by Bianca Sanborn as told to Rosa Jimenez
I consider myself young as an artist. I wish I could tell you I have goals of changing the world, but I feel as if I’m just beginning this life. I graduated this year, and I only decided two years ago that art is what I want to do for my career.
I started college as a pre-dentistry major. Dentistry seemed kind of exciting, and I thought it would make a good career. To me, it seemed that dentistry involved art, or at least an ability to reproduce shapes, match color, and make aesthetic contributions to people’s appearances. So when I came to college, that’s what I decided to do.
In my junior year, I went to Spain for my other major—Spanish—and when I came back, I started having second thoughts about dentistry.
One turning point was in a first-year French class when I caught myself thinking about how easy the class seemed, but some people kept talking about how hard it was. And that is exactly how I felt in physics class when I would watch everyone, knowing that no matter how much I read the book and studied, I just wasn’t grasping it like everyone else.
I went to my advisor, crying. I was frustrated because physics was the last class I had to take to finish my major. I was afraid he would try to tell me to stick with it, but he told me, “You need to do what you love to do.” So I did.
I had already taken some art classes—and had actually been considering an art minor. So I knew that was what I wanted to do. It helped that Tom Emmerson gave me the confidence that I had the ability and talent to go through with it. He had already inspired me in one of my print classes. I didn’t know how to start a class project, and everyone in the class was jumping right into it. I started cutting into the little piece of wood—a detail of a fish swimming in water. I remember thinking, what am I doing? No one is going to like this. I spent three days on it and wondered if it was worth it. But Tom was so excited about what he saw. It was the first time that someone outside my family had really showed an appreciation for what I was doing.
I don’t remember exactly how I told my parents that after three years in college I was switching majors. I think I said, “Hey, what would you think if I did an art major?” They have always supported my choices, but I’m sure at first it seemed like a rash decision to them. I just knew they wanted me to be happy.
Right now, what I enjoy about art is when I’m actually in the process of making it. For some class projects I stayed up for two days working on them. I would lose track of time, and other things didn’t seem as important.
On one design assignment I worked for 14 hours straight. It was a self-portrait, and when Martha Mason assigned it, she said we were supposed to look in the mirror and mix up at least seven different skin tones and hair tones. I immediately thought of cutting paper into organic shapes that described the contours and shadows of my actual face. I started around 10 o’clock the night before it was due. Dumb, I know, but I have a tendency to work on other things to get them out of the way so I can concentrate on the project I look forward to doing the most.
I started by drawing a simple self-portrait with a brown marker. Just lines. Then I started mixing colors. I think I cheated, because I only looked in the mirror once so I could feel free to come up with more skin tones than I actually saw. So I came up with yellows and browns and pinks, and then I started cutting them out to fit inside the portrait I’d drawn with the marker. I worked all night, and all morning, but it still wasn’t done by class time the next day. I kept working through class time until it was done. I remember the feeling of being so excited about it. I went straight to Martha’s office, even though I was a little chagrined that I’d missed class.
Part of my excitement over a project is showing it to someone
else, and I knew she would love it, which she did. She said it had a rich
variety of colors, but still a lot of control, since each piece of color had
a sharp, crisp edge where I’d cut it out. It was a perfect marriage of
the spontaneity of color mixing with the precision of an effective design.
Colors and shapes inspire me. Almost anything visual inspires me. My art is
also influenced by my interest in languages. I took a Spanish major in college
as well as art. I suppose I’m attracted to different cultures and the
visual icons that surround them, so experiences like living in a foreign country
were bound to affect things I’ve drawn. My teachers say my use of color
is somewhat unusual and perhaps influenced by Mediterranean culture and light.
I like cool blues and greens mixed with earthier colors, like terra cotta
or burgundy or earthy greens.
My interest in languages and cultures began when I was very young. My dad was a Spanish teacher, so I heard Spanish when I was a child. He had lived in Mexico early in his life, so he spoke it with friends that came to the house. We had neighbors who were from Mexico, and the kids spoke English with us but Spanish at home. I always thought it sounded like fun. Like a code or something.
In a year, I’m going to graduate school in New Mexico to study printmaking. My affection for Latin culture and the Spanish language is one of the reasons I’m attracted to the Southwest.
But right now I’m getting ready to teach art and Spanish for one year at a grade school on Orcas Island. I’m excited and nervous. It’s a great feeling to know I’ll be doing this for one year, and then I’ll be studying art in grad school—and for the rest of my life, I suppose.
I don’t know where I will be in 10 years, but I’m excited about my future because I’m doing what I want to do. W
Bianca Sanborn is a 2002 art graduate. Before moving to New Mexico for graduate school, Bianca will teach art and Spanish for one year at Orcas Christian School, a Seventh-day Adventist school on Orcas Island in the Puget Sound.
Rosa Jimenez is the director of College Relations at Walla Walla College and the editor of Westwind.