Q&A with Elizabeth Boch, 2014-2015 Zinggia Art Scholarship Winner
Elizabeth was our inaugural Zinggia Art Scholarship winner! YAY!! We wanted to check in with her to see how she was doing in her first year of art school. Sounds like she’s off to a good start!
Q. When did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in art?
There was never a point in my life that I didn’t draw, but I think I started taking my work more seriously and trying to better myself as an artist around 7th grade. I was entered into my first youth art exhibition in 8th grade and when I went to see the work in the competition, that’s when I knew for certain.
Q. You recently were accepted into the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College. Can you give us a brief overview of the program and how the experience has been so far? What’s your major?
An Honors Tutorial education is highly individualized. Being accepted means that a student can take advantage of a curriculum that they design with a professor that they choose to meet with for an hour each week for a one on one discussion of what is being studied. In my case, as a Studio Art major, it could mean that I choose to take a tutorial on painting, where a professor and I meet each week to critique an assignment, or it could mean that I meet weekly with a professor in any other college department and discuss readings or films that were assigned. It’s a self-directed education where you get exactly what you want out of it. It also means that one can take classes without having to fulfill all general education requirements and without the handicap of a year based status or prerequisite. It’s a rigorous and selective program and it’s perfect for my style of learning.
Q. Since you started college, have you learned of any new directions that you can take your artistic talents that you didn’t know about or consider in high school?
I think that my exploration into different mediums is coinciding with my transition into college and maybe not so much inspired by my being in college. As in, I am naturally growing as an artist while I am growing as a person, and experimenting in my art is as natural a step as getting older. What I have found in college are people who are at the same skill level as me, which puts me in a position where I can share my knowledge and learn things from them in return. I also have found a renewed love of painting!
Q. Vampires or werewolves?
I am a fan of the Castlevania and Elder Scrolls games and both creatures have their places within them. I love them both, but I suppose I am a tad bit more of a werewolf fan.
Q. What classes are you taking this semester, and how is your school work load?
This semester I am taking two literature classes, one on the holocaust and the other on LGBT+ literature. I am also taking a foundations class where we are studying image and a studio class where we explore experimental approaches to painting and drawing. My tutorial this semester has focused on studying contemporary art and women in art. The workload is intense, and on top of the given homework, I try to also create work outside of what is assigned in classes. The rumors are true, that coffee is a great friend to have in college.
Q. Will you be working with any digital illustration or will it mostly be traditional mediums?
As an Honors Studio Art student, I am able to apply to my concentration at the end of this year (which will be painting and drawing), but other students within the Studio Art major can pick any concentration from sculpture to graphic design. I plan to stick with traditional mediums, myself, because I thrive off of the intimacy that I have with my tangible work. It’s important to me to experience different traditional mediums and approaches, and to work directly with my hands.
Q. What is your ultimate goal when you create your artwork?
With each new piece I hope to improve, but more importantly, I desire for my work to be successful in communicating with the viewer. Almost all of the subjects of my work are used as metaphors for a greater concept. I work to draw people into a piece and I hope they have an intimate moment of understanding with it, as the goal of some of my most recent work has been to create a visual of anxiety and to juxtapose life and death, energy and calm.
Q. Doctor Who or Doctor Strange?
As much as I love science fiction, I’m not a time travel subgenre sort of person. That being said, I’m not a big Marvel fan either. I’d have to side with Doctor Manhattan.
Q. What’s in your sketchbook right now?
Right now, my sketchbooks are mostly filled with thumbnail sketches for completed and upcoming pieces, and notes for other classes, surrounded by life sketches of other students (I can only justify using my sketchbook for notes if I draw on the pages as well).
Q. Does your school require you to take any financial or business classes to help you navigate a more profitable art career?
Ohio University doesn’t push business classes. It’s really up to the student to decide if they want to take classes and/or minor in finance. Some do and some choose to minor in other subjects. I am looking at a minor in women, gender, and sexuality studies or perhaps African American studies. I have not yet decided whether or not to take a business class.
Q. Are you sick of Ramen Noodles yet?
Yes, totally. 100%.
Here are a few recent piece Elizabeth has been working on!
“Untitled” is made up of acrylic paint, and a “transferred” magazine page on canvas paper.
“Ant Herding” was birthed of acrylic paint, a graphite on paper drawing, “transferred” magazine clips, wet charcoal, and real dead ants pasted on canvas.
Read all of the Q&A Artist Interviews with our past Zinggia Ohio Art Scholarship Winners.
