By Brittyana Pierro.
Rocky Thomas is a multimedia artist and first-year student at Evergreen. She recently transferred into the Studio Projects: Land and Sky program in order to pursue her love for art. Right now in class she is focused on a wood-carving project. The process of the project is making and carving out a chair, and Thomas has chosen to incorporate designs inspired by her experiences in nature.
“I went on a hike a couple of weeks ago. When we got to one of the highest points of elevation, there was this huge cliff. It was just trees and hills and mountains and it looked so beautiful. And I was like, I have to take a mental picture. So for the [chair] idea what I want to do is get a stepping stool and carve out little trees on the side and then put rocks and pebbles. So it’s like a cliff kind of.” Thomas continued, saying, “I want to use the chair as an altar. Hopefully, I can make enough room so I can put crystals and cards on it and stuff.”
Wood-carving is a completely new venture for Thomas, but as a multimedia artist, she is up for the challenge. “I hope that I can know how to use the tools the right way, and carve out what I’ve been thinking in my head,” Thomas said.
Thomas has explored a variety of art mediums, ranging from colored pencils to her current wood-carving project. Scratchboard and painting are a couple of her most used art forms. Scratchboard was the medium she used to create both the black and white nature pieces featured on page eight and nine.
Those two scratchboard pieces were produced in another art class Thomas took in high school. This class was the place Thomas first began to truly explore their artistic talents and versatility. Both the pieces are interpretations of things Thomas has seen in nature. The tree scratchboard, in particular, has a backstory close to Thomas’ heart.
“I was camping with my family. And at the campsite, there was this huge tree. It was super late and we were all just sitting around the campfire. And I was just drawing it,” Thomas said “[A year later] I was looking through my sketchbook and I saw that and I was like, ‘Oh I could totally turn this into scratchboard’.”
Photo editing is also an art skill Thomas has been playing around with more recently. Her interest in edits actually stemmed from following photo editors on Instagram.
“I had followed a couple of people who did photo edits on Instagram. They always did like bold body altering. I really, really liked it a lot.” Thomas said, “Sometimes I’ll just look at some of my photos and think ‘this is a nice photo but how can I make it better?”
Using an app on her phone, Thomas takes regular photos and turns them into what she deems as a ‘fantasy’. Her photos, like the ones in the feature, will often have models edited with extra limbs or eyes.
No matter the medium, Thomas consistently carries over her love for the forest nature and other mythical things.
“I really like realism, even though I’m not the best at it. So, nature is my go-to, I guess. Because it’s very free, but also still realistic, I can go find inspiration in it.
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