Meet Vanya
YACster Profile Vanya
Processed with VSCO with p5 preset
Vanya, a 17-year-old (summer of) Senior at Pacific Grove High School, has been a member of YAC for two and a half years and loves being part of such a “candid, steady haven.” In fact Vanya considers YAC to be a “purposeful sanctuary” - being a YACster has allowed her to enjoy life more.Vanya, self described as a “restrained and contemplative romantic” first remembers loving art when as a preschooler she spent her free time at the end of each day creating a handmade card for her Mom, often with drawings of flowers. Presently, her favorite medium is collage because it is like a freestyle puzzle wherein you get to arrange the pieces in the manner in which you desire. Her collages often depict loneliness and the different ways and shades of being lonely. She loves how a solitary person, a singular hand or specific scenery can invoke the very relatable sentiment of being lonely. Vanya finds loneliness to be both melancholic and satisfying.Inspired by the ocean and beach, Lake Tahoe, school and random poets, Vanya also enjoys swimming, writing, watching movies, specifically 1990’s Asian Action movies, and traveling. She describes her art as “revealing, deliberate and expressive” and hopes that when people view her work they experience a shared emotional response.In addition to improving the mediums she already works in, Vanya desires to expand her subject matter as well as explore using oil. In ten years, she hopes to have completed a college degree in either journalism or technical writing, have a job and be living in a nice apartment in, ideally, either Washington or Oregon.Vanya so loves her time at YAC because without it she feels that she would never have been aware of or had exposure to the different mediums, different people and different aspects of the artistic community. She believes it to be very fulfilling to know that there is value in young people pursuing their art and that support encourages her (and all the YACsters) continuing explorations.See Vanya’s work here
