Quincy

Portrait with CJ Foeckler

Description:

 

Portrait with Nick Collura

The way that I view myself changes a lot. I like to journal. I'll look back on something I wrote about myself a year or two ago and be like, “Dang, I'm not the same person I was.” I know that I have room for improvement because I always see room to grow as a person. 

People describe me as caring, passionate, and truthful. I'm really honest. That could be good or bad to some people. People may view my honesty as harshness but I have good intentions. I tell my friends what they may not want to hear, along with cheerful motivation. I try to look on the bright side of things instead of thinking only about the negative. I try to motivate my friends,  classmates and peers as much as possible. I want everyone to do good. I’m also a good leader. If no one else is speaking up, I volunteer to do it.  I’m not afraid to say what’s on my mind. But I'm also very empathetic. I try to put myself in other people’s shoes. I like talking things out with people.

I'm 18 years old. I was born in Wisconsin but my family moved to Washington from preschool to the fourth grade. My dad got a Navy position out there. I was in school with kids who were not my race; mostly White and mixed kids. Then we moved back here to Milwaukee in 2016. That  transition was sad for me because I knew that I was going to miss all my friends, teachers and neighbors. It was a good community for me, being able to be so open with other people. I didn’t know how good I was going to do in Milwaukee. I was in a few different schools here. A strict Christian school where I had to adjust to things I wasn’t used to and make friends with different people, and then me and my brother got switched to another school on the northwest side. There would be times there where I would argue with other students a lot. 

In seventh grade I started making a lot of art. My mom thought it would be good to move me to an art school, but the school was much bigger and I got bullied. A lot of kids picked fights and people were being out of character, not respectful. I look for respect in my friends. That was a hard time for me. I ended up switching back to my previous school.

There are some people that have influenced who I am today and how I see myself.  Ms. Woods was a really good teacher. She had a mother figure presence and also kept us in check. If my grades were slipping or I was slacking off, she would get me to get back on track. She wanted the best for us, even when she had her own struggles, and seeing how she came through those changed my view on teachers. She got us to learn in a disciplined way and she also worked with us. The things that she taught me, I carried into high school. 

Freshman year was a virtual year and I didn't talk to people or make friends. I was just focused on my education. Later on, something that helped me was a pre-college program called Upward Bound at Marquette. I was around different people from different schools. It helped me practice being more social. I got myself out there and started looking for opportunities. It became easier for me to talk to other people and I wasn't really scared of people not liking me. If people like me, they like me. If they don't, they don’t.  That’s where I met Mr. John. He was strict but also encouraged habits to help me mature and take things more seriously, like utilizing my time and being prepared. He pushed me. He was almost like an older brother or mentor to me because he talked to us about school, growing up, and why we should take advantage of all the opportunities the program had. The program helped me experience what college might be like and now I am enrolled in college.

Ms. Woods and Mr. John helped me strive to do better and have a goal mindset. They believed in me and my goals and my dreams. They made me strive more and gain more hope that I can succeed.  

I identify as a multidisciplinary artist. I like to make digital art, which is my main medium. I also do sketchbook drawings, colored pencil drawings, painting on canvases with acrylic paint. And I want to start music production and fashion design. 

I like surrealism and abstract art a lot. I’m inspired by watching anime and reading manga, hip hop culture, and other artists that I come across on social media or around the city. I also like classical and Renaissance artists like DaVinci and Van Gogh, and artwork that's in churches. I think about the artists’ processes and how they did all of that without technology.  

My process usually starts with research first. If I see something that inspires me, I sketch it out and then take a picture of it in the app thatI use to do a second sketch. I do my line work, then start with basic color. I like to add a good amount of color to my artwork.  Sometimes I even listen to music to help think of colors or what I can add next. I love what I’m doing when I make art. I'm just having a good time while I draw.  If I were to try to define my art style, it would be like anime mixed with psychedelic surrealism.

I make my art mainly for myself but I do want other people to question my art, especially my surrealist pieces. I don't think a lot of people know that I’m an artist. People who don’t really know too much about me, I want them to see in my art that I’m not what they think I am. I want my art to paint a picture of who Quincy is, what I do. I am very creative, very curious. This is why I practice a lot of different mediums. 

When people see my art, I want them to wonder what was going through my mind while I was making it, or wonder, “What is he going to do next? What is he going to create?” I want people to look at my art and solve it like a puzzle. I want people to add me to their books of artists they like. My goal is for people to view me as a talented person. They may not get the whole picture, but if they take the time to try to see me, they’ll see that I’m good at many different things.

 

Milwaukee, 2024

Guest User2023