Culture? introducing Gracie Magee..

GRACIE MAGEE

..We are kicking of this brand new week here at culture? with the fantastic young photographer Gracie Magee. Gracie has a eye for what works, and her look is stunning. I am very happy that the world still have counterpoises to the mainstream fashion! I am really looking forward to see more from Gracie and her camera. Gracie is telling us about herself and her work today, so take it in and enjoy..

..Here it is, your shot of art with Gracie Magee..

My name is Gracie Magee. I am American born and bred, more specifically from the south eastern region. I love it dearly. Thus far 18 years of life have passed me by.

I grew up with a very creative mother who was always supportive of my artistic, albeit sometimes ridiculous, endeavors. I have always wanted to be an artist or something along those lines. I remember "artist" was always my answer in elementary school when we were asked what we would be when we grew up. Of course, now I know that there is more to being an artist than finger painting and drawing (horribly inaccurate) family portraits and thus do not intend to be what I used to consider an artist. Honestly, I create for purely selfish reasons. I like nice, pretty things and I am frugal so instead of buying stuff I like I make it, or attempt such. Sometimes it works out really well and sometimes it is a disappointment, but either way I love the process.

I do not have a full time job, but when I do I doubt it will be creating art. Though, I will probably keep making things (rather haphazardly) for my own enjoyment, as I do now.

I go to an art-focused school, but I'm studying historic preservation rather than typical forms of art. I'm not really doing anything creative, I'm just sort of trying to protect the art of previous cultures, mainly in the form of architecture, rather than make something new. I love it, even if I'm not making something of my own. Just being involved with something so significant makes it worth it.

I suppose I am inspired mainly by my obsession with history. As far as traditional art forms go I love most architecture, fashion, and portrait styles of the 19th through mid 20th century. I also am fascinated by vernacular photos from the early days of photography. I am also fairly easily inspired by my favorite colors and music. Of course, I am also inspired by people who make pretty things with the same aesthetic qualities as what I have come to associate myself with. I know this is very vague description, but if I attempted trying to explain any more I would just end up rambling on about things most people don't care to read about. So short and simple it is.

Picking a favorite artist is basically impossible for me. Partially because there are far too many forms of art I like, and therefore too many artists to pick from, and partially because I tend to focus less on the creator and more on the subject. Which is bad, I know, but it's the truth. I guess I could say that right now Charles Gates Sheldon, Norman Rockwell, and Charles Dana Gibson have a really big influence on how I think in terms of creating paintings, drawings, and photos, but that doesn't even come close to the end of the list. I love illustrations of people so those few I mentioned happen to be good examples of that, but there are literally dozens of other artists (most of whom I do not even know the names of) who inspire the other types of work I like to create.

You can see some of my photography on my flickr. I don't really like to share some of the other things I do (music, drawings, and so on) with people I don't know, and the other things) like clothes and little knickknacks) will sometimes show up in my photos, but I I don't generally go out of my way to share those either.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/graciemagee/

culture? Gracie Magee!