P“ART” of Human Existence
Above: PERSISTANT PASSION: Clarke Central High School 2016 alumna Ella Sams and 2015-2016 ODYSSEY Media Group Senior Visuals Coordinator she poses with her artwork in Room. 231 on April 3. Sams created mixed media art (video, graphics, and drawings) throughout her time in the ODYSSEY and has continued her passion now as a profession. “It's so important to have an outlet, any kind of outlet that's healthy, to be able to make sense of what's going on in your world. Art is not necessarily to make something beautiful. Sometimes it's just to sort it out, and I think that ODYSSEY helped me begin to understand how I could do that for myself,” Sams said. Photo by Iliana Tejada
CCHS 2016 alumna Ella Sams discusses her experience in the ODYSSEY Media Group and her career as an artist post-high school.
iliad Managing Editor Victoria Garland: What was your experience like in the ODYSSEY Media Group?
Clarke Central High School alumni Ella Sams: What I liked about what I did (in ODYSSEY) was that I could take the factual part of journalism and give it a bit of a twist toward something more emotional. (OMG founder and adviser David A.) Ragsdale still always likes to joke about how I got a little bit too sappy in my videos, sometimes a little too emotional, but it was also at the beginning of me learning how to journal my own life, too. Sometimes you go into journalism as a class, (and) it's just work, work, work then you forget, ‘Wow, I've done some pretty cool things.’ The people were great, some of my closest friends came from ODYSSEY because we were all just working a lot together. There's something to bonding from hard work, and also to see other people around me making incredible things was so cool.
VG: When you were doing art or illustrations for ODYSSEY did you always know that you had this passion for art?
ES: ODYSSEY was probably the first time I used my creative thinking and physical ability to create the art, which I think anybody can do, but it was the first time I had limitations that allowed me to actually expand on my art. For example, (if) someone writes an article and it's going to be the cover story, I'm working to make a visual that is concise and also encompasses a lot. It's a different type of creativity that was new for me, and I think that helped me grow into someone who was able to make a business of that.
Above: COLORFUL COVERS: Clarke Central High School 2016 alumna Ella Sams and 2015-2016 ODYSSEY Media Group Senior Visuals Coordinator lays with magazine covers she designed during her time in ODYSSEY outside of Room. 231 on April 3. Through being in the program Sams found herself with more confidence that’s carried throughout her life. “ODYSSEY helps you see your opportunities and just tackle them and stop thinking too hard sometimes. I definitely am the type to think too hard before I do things, so it helps to sometimes just do it,” Sams said. Photo by Iliana Tejada
VG: With the commissioning you're doing now, what does that look like?
ES: A lot of these projects take more than a week, so you kind of are working together on it, and I want them (patrons) to feel that way because we live in a life these days where there is not an obvious ability to customize your life. Everything is getting more quantity based instead of quality and so we have very little ownership over our lives, or at least it feels that way (to me). I like to encourage people to use artwork as a way to do that so these maps, these murals, these portraits, are all ways for people to have something that reminds them of what they care about.
VG: When you're doing pieces, does having symbolism make you feel more connected to it?
ES: It does help to have symbolism that ties me into my work too. People can tell when an artist is doing something more for the money and not for the feeling, and the greater importance (of it). I would be heartbroken if I found out that someone thought that I didn't care about my work, because there's just something beyond money when it comes to art. It’s a different part of human existence, and it's important to me.
VG: What are the specific things you do to connect yourself to the work? Is it a signature, or is it when you're talking to the people?
ES: I also just inherently feel more connected just by talking to the person. You can't help but feel more connected to something that you might not know anything about (after speaking with the person). When it comes to maps I choose the map location, and then I sell the prints. It's different from a commission because I'm already choosing something I care a lot about, so I get the chance to be more connected.
VG: How have the things that you learned in ODYSSEY, or the things that you were doing there, translated into life beyond high school and what you're doing now?
ES: One of the biggest things that ODYSSEY helped me with moving forward is the ability to network, make connections, be confident, kind of just see an opportunity and go with it and just hope that it works out; if it doesn't, then be flexible, find something different. This mural project I'm doing right now for fresh market, I did a portrait for a man who owns the Beechwood shopping center, and that was about a year ago, and he mentioned just kind of casually, ‘we might need a mural somewhere one day, so just let me know if you're interested.’ We stopped talking about it for a while, (but then) I went to this festival in Charleston, and just got so fired up from all of the artists I got to meet and all of the connections that I was able to make. When I came back to Long Creek, which is where I live now, I was sort of like, ‘All right, what's next?’ So I reached out to him, and I was just like, ‘hey, I'm available if you still want me to do a mural, and within a week, we had already started plans.
By Victoria Garland