By Kristine Falck
With a penchant for creative writing and art from a young age, grade eleven student Emily Larman (one of our Arts Mag contributors!) has always embraced her artistic side. Coming from Santa Barbara, California, Emily has been at Collingwood for two years, and has already impressed Collingwood’s senior English teacher, Ms. Clark, with her marvelous writing style. According to Emily, as she has matured, she has “realized that the fluidity that art allows can also be portrayed through writing”. Interested in pursuing film as well as journalism, Emily finds time to express herself through graphic design. Emily expressed, “I have always been interested in creative pursuits but graphic design had never occurred to me, which now that I come to think of it is strange, because it is the merging of the two mediums of art that I particularly enjoy.” With both literary and artistic skills, Emily has truly flourished in graphic design, despite it being a newly found passion of hers.
Emily’s most prized piece of work is her piece titled Imperfection is beauty. When asked about the work, she responded, “I really love the color that I chose for the words as well as the superimposing of the image behind it. I purposely off-centered the words to hint to the imperfection that the quote tries to illustrate.” Another favourite piece of hers is her rendition of a deconstructed Corona bottle with the intact bottle on top. The art piece was created to represent the word “bibulous” which means addicted to alcohol. The shattered bottle was to represent how your soul becomes shattered as you descend into alcoholism. Emily noted, “I really love how that turned out. In all honesty, I love every piece that I have created this year and have really enjoyed how most of them have turned out. They were all such a labour of love for me.”
Emily’s most prized piece of work is her piece titled Imperfection is beauty. When asked about the work, she responded, “I really love the color that I chose for the words as well as the superimposing of the image behind it. I purposely off-centered the words to hint to the imperfection that the quote tries to illustrate.” Another favourite piece of hers is her rendition of a deconstructed Corona bottle with the intact bottle on top. The art piece was created to represent the word “bibulous” which means addicted to alcohol. The shattered bottle was to represent how your soul becomes shattered as you descend into alcoholism. Emily noted, “I really love how that turned out. In all honesty, I love every piece that I have created this year and have really enjoyed how most of them have turned out. They were all such a labour of love for me.”
When asked about her views and philosophy on graphic design, she said, “To me, graphic design is the encompassing of modern-day ideals into a medium which embodies an age where everything has to do with technology. I think it offers artists a way to create something with a certain cleanliness, a more sharp, avant-garde look than art had ever allowed for before. It allows for freedom but in a way that it doesn’t overpower. For me, it represents a way to create art that allows for a vast variety of opportunities that merely a pencil and paper won’t allow.” Emily also expressed her sentiments about the power of art: “By putting so much time and energy into one project, you get so invested in it, which gradually gives you the time to actually create something that you take pleasure in rather than just creating for the sake of creating.” Undoubtedly an artist at heart, Emily is a strong believer in the importance of arts as a means of expression. To her, graphic design has represented “a tranquil haven amongst the chaos that is the stage in our lives that we are at right now”. Graphic design has provided Emily with an avenue to reflect upon herself and to try to channel herself through her work.
Outside of her graphic design pursuits, Emily enjoys creative writing. She is a writer for Arts Mag, writes movie reviews and explores entertainment news in her role as Arts and Entertainment Editor for Collingwood’s Ad Verum, Additionally, Emily has a steadfast interest in cinematography and particularly loves “the juxtaposition of a brilliant score melded with masterful cinematography- the whole experience has made [her] fall in love with the art of movies.” Movies such as Rush, Inception, Anna Karenina and TRON: Legacy have all influenced her in a profound way, and in fact have been sources of inspiration for her graphic design projects, such as her info graphic on Inception, or her minimalist movie poster design of Rush. Her flair for graphic design has followed her into her other pursuits and passions.
Aspiring to attend film school with an emphasis on writing and journalism, Emily also wishes to continue to pursue graphic design on her own time. She sees the skills that graphic design have imbued in her as those “she will never forget”.
Outside of her graphic design pursuits, Emily enjoys creative writing. She is a writer for Arts Mag, writes movie reviews and explores entertainment news in her role as Arts and Entertainment Editor for Collingwood’s Ad Verum, Additionally, Emily has a steadfast interest in cinematography and particularly loves “the juxtaposition of a brilliant score melded with masterful cinematography- the whole experience has made [her] fall in love with the art of movies.” Movies such as Rush, Inception, Anna Karenina and TRON: Legacy have all influenced her in a profound way, and in fact have been sources of inspiration for her graphic design projects, such as her info graphic on Inception, or her minimalist movie poster design of Rush. Her flair for graphic design has followed her into her other pursuits and passions.
Aspiring to attend film school with an emphasis on writing and journalism, Emily also wishes to continue to pursue graphic design on her own time. She sees the skills that graphic design have imbued in her as those “she will never forget”.