With a blank page before her, a sketch pencil in hand and a vision in mind, Megan James, sophomore visual arts major, uses her artistic talents to express herself through sketching.
She said she was always a lover of art growing up and remembers putting more effort in her art projects than anything else.
James developed a love for ceramics through her high school senior exhibition, where she received positive feedback from her peers, encouragement from her teachers and motivation from people buying her work.
“It was such a good feeling to see that people really want my stuff, and they would commission me to do things that they like,” James said. “It is cool to have people want my art and buy my art.”
James’ parents were missionaries, so she grew up in England and Germany where she experienced different art forms that influenced her artistic style.
“When I do ceramics, I feel like I’ve tried to develop a simple shape, like very detailed decoration on ceramics,” James said. “I feel like school is the time to experiment and just keep trying out new things.”
Barks and Rust are currently her inspiration. However, while in Europe, she said she subconsciously collected ideas to help create her own style. Now that she is at California Baptist University, she has to dig for other inspiration that will further enhance her art.
Valentin Mendez, sophomore political science major, said he believes James is gifted.
“Megan’s work is pretty cool,” he said. “It’s not like stuff you see today. It is very abstract-looking and some of it looks like it happened by chance, which makes it very cool. I would buy one of her mugs.”
Regardless of her experience and talent, James said she believes there is room for growth and is always looking for new ideas and invention.
She said she embraces the idea of helping people see things through different perspectives. Her most recent idea is to make lamps with her sketching and ceramics skills.
Despite her fondness for lamps, her idea is still in the early stages.
In the future, James said she would like to have a ceramics studio for young and upcoming artists who cannot afford a ceramic studio because ceramics is an expensive field and gathering enough supplies may take a while.
James said faith plays an important role in her artwork. She sees God working in patterns, such as how a tree looks like a lung and veins look like vines.
“Pottery is mentioned a lot in the Bible, even God being the potter,” James said. “I don’t want to make something just pretty; I want to make something with meaning.”
