Painter finds her inspiration

By: Jessica Ricks, Staff Writer

Senior art and design major Marie-Charlotte Amegah says she began her journey to become an artist in the eighth grade when she took her first art class.

“It was the first art class where I actually liked the assignments and what I was doing, so I just started taking it more seriously from that point on,” Amegah said.

Since then, Amegah has taken many art classes throughout high school and into her college education at Towson including painting, digital art, drawing and illustration. With a passion for color, her favorite mediums are acrylic and oil paint.

Although Amegah found success in a variety of academic subjects, there was something about art that captured her interest a lot more than math or English.

“Art was the thing I really cared about and I really wanted to push,” Amegah said. “Even though I’m good at other subjects, I can’t imagine studying them for hours.”

Although Amegah finds her major very demanding with four-hour studio classes and at least six hours of work outside the classroom each week, this practice has helped her grow as an artist. She said that classroom critiques and the opinions of other students have helped her to see her work in a different way, and approach it from an angle she would not have thought of before.

After graduating, Amegah is interested in pursuing museum work or education.

She also plans to produce paintings after college, but the personal aspect of her work inhibits her from wanting to be a full-time fine artist.

“I make art for myself primarily,” Amegah said. “When I’m making art, I’m not thinking ‘what’s going to sell?’ or ‘what is someone else going to like?’”

Because of this rooted authenticity, Amegah does not want to dictate what other people think of her work. Since her art typically varies between being very abstract and realistic, Amegah wants people to be able to form their own opinions on it.

Amegah finds inspiration for her art mainly from her own ideas and personal experiences.

Her West African heritage is also the muse for a lot of her color choices and visual inspirations. Through this connection to her background and personal surroundings, Amegah finds persistent meaning that she translates into art.

“Art is important to me because it’s just everything that I do, everything that I think about and something that I’m always willing to explore,” Amegah said. “I’m thinking about it all the time and doing it all the time.

Leave a Reply

Close

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.