By Alexis Blue
Senior studio art major Maya Song revels in creativity, acrylic paint and half-inch flat brushes. Originally from the Bay Area, Song grew up drawing, garnering inspiration from her aunt, a collage artist, and her father who enjoys architecture. When she was 14 years old, Song began taking her art more seriously by joining El Comalito, an art collective in Vallejo, CA, which allowed her to gain some experience through art markets.
“The first things I ever sold as paintings were because my brother was a skateboarder,” Song said. “He was sponsored by a deck company, so he had thousands of decks just at his disposal. I would sand them down, and repaint them, and then I would sell those at the market.”
In her last few semesters at Humboldt, Song has developed her skills as an artist, holding on to her childhood as inspiration. Song shared that her artistic style is often guided by children’s toys or images from sticker packs, digital art from the early 2000s and even equestrian themes.
“Every piece that I’ve ever done has had some sort of portraiture, essentially of family members,” Song said. “So, one of my maternal lineages — grandmas, aunts, my mom, stuff like that; a lot of exploration of generational womanhood.”
As many artists experience, there are moments when creativity lulls and there are moments of yearning for inspiration. In these moments, Song has sought out music and friends.
“I think it’s really important to sort of surround yourself with other creative people from different mediums, because what everybody else is working on pushes you to think outside of your normal streams of inspiration,” Song said.
Song reflected on some dream projects of hers in the future, including a project that she is currently working on, an Asian-American art gallery to recognize artists in the Humboldt County area. She also shared excitement in possibly seeing her art displayed alongside an inspiration of hers.
“We’ve always sort of talked about how there’s really a lack of representation in Asian-American art in the area, even though there’s so many amazing Asian creators that have come from this space,” Song said. “I think the cherry on top would be if we were to get some Martin Wong pieces in the exhibit.”
Song believes that art is for everyone, not just conventional artists, and that there’s no wrong way to go about it. “You gotta just do it,” Song said. “It really is all benefit and no risk. You don’t have to show your work to anybody. It’s just to make something for yourself, and be super selfish about it.”
Alexis Blue is a junior at Cal Poly Humboldt, majoring in journalism and minoring in writing. She enjoys drinking coffee, sunsets on the beach, and playing soccer.
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