Meet Jade

Jade

Jade, a 17-year-old who just graduated from Monterey County Home Charter School has been a member of Youth Arts Collective for all of high school. She considers YAC to be “cozy, knowledgeable, and full of strength,” and finds delight in sharing the studio with like-minded creative types. She first remembers doing art when at four years old, her Mom presented her with paint and she proceeded with her hands on huge pieces of paper. In fact, her parents still have her earliest work. Presently, she prefers to work in graphite “because then she can not mess up the color,” charcoal “because as opposed to the refinement of graphite she can achieve a great deal of movement,” and is also starting to explore watercolor “because it allows such flow,” as well as oils. She considers her art to be “expressive, alluring and original.” Jade, self-described as “spontaneous, creative and determined,” is also passionate about playing music, preferably acoustic guitar (or electric guitar if she is feeling spunky), and practicing Aikido. She enjoys knitting and crocheting and is also learning to sew. Of her many hobbies, she says that cooking, dancing and spending time with her family are her favorites. Jade is delighted and proud each time she finishes a piece, even when the piece doesn’t “admittedly” come out the way she had imagined it would. In regards to her art, she is often inspired by nature, which she loves “because regardless of the wavering of modern technology, nature is always available.” She is further inspired by a painter named Kevin Llewellyn, who taught her that there are no set rules, and Ani Lee, a knitter and designer that has taught her to accept imperfections. She is heavily influenced by Japan, where she would love to travel to in order to learn more about the culture, especially martial arts. She also dreams of traveling to India, to explore the wool and yarn, and to Alaska, to experience its beauty firsthand. That being said, her greatest sources of inspiration are her parents and her boyfriend. Jade hopes to earn her Masters in Fine Art, with which to teach and ideally open up a fine art supply store - similar to YAC Mentor Germain Hatcher of Pacific Grove’s Imagine Art Supplies. She also dreams of spending a significant amount of time backpacking through Europe, during which time she could pause each day to create a piece of art. In addition, Jade aims to become a 4th degree black belt + Sensei in Aikido. Jade’s favorite quote is “I love the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” - Galileo See Jade’s work on instagram here