Listen to Virginia Villanueva talk about her life as a visual artist and photographer in the second episode of the Northwood Artist Series.
Script
[Intro]
Revy: Hi there! I’m Revy Godehn.
Gianna: And I’m Gianna Cacciato.
Revy: And we’re staff writers for the Northwood Omniscient.
Gianna: In this podcast, we will be interviewing Virginia Villanueva, photographer, visual artist and member of the senior class at Northwood, about her love of art.
Revy: She is our second student featured in the Omnsicient’s new Northwood Artist series. Northwood offers 26 arts classes, including theatre, dance, instrumental and vocal music and the visual arts. The series will highlight some of the most talented and artistic students here at Northwood.
[Intro Music]
Gianna: How long have you been into photography?
Virginia: I had always been interested in it, but I didn’t actually start pursuing it until freshman year when I took photography class, and, I mean, learning to use the camera, I have been taking photos off and on ever since then. I didn’t really get into [it] until last year when we got stuck in quarantine. I just felt like it was the easiest way for me to express myself, and I also thought it was the easiest way for us to document our lives and how I was feeling during that time when we were all kind of stuck at home.
Revy: What other mediums do you use to create art, which is your favorite, and why?
Virginia: I love to use any medium of art. I feel like I can appreciate all of the different art forms there are, and I just love anything I can be creative in and express myself with, but if I had to pick some favorites, they would be probably painting just because I feel like it’s very expressive in the way you use paint strokes, and collaging probably, like physical collaging or digital collaging text and images. I just feel like it’s really cool to be able to put all these different things together to create one final piece.
Gianna: What art-related clubs do you participate in at Northwood?
Virginia: I am currently in the photography society. I have been in it since freshman year, I took photography class. I am also a part of Art for All, which is our general art club for Northwood, and I am an officer in planning for that club. I have also been a part of the National Art Honor Society since freshman year, and I am actually co-leadership chair alongside Ella Sullivan, so it’s been really cool being able to engage in our arts department and just being able to come up with ideas and projects that everyone can take a part in–and especially right now that it’s been weird with students at home, it’s just been interesting to find ways that we can all still participate. Last year I was actually able to be able to be a part of our Charge art magazine team.
Revy: Charge is Northwood’s art magazine that highlights and publishes student artists. In the past, Charge has put out yearly print editions; however, due to the pandemic, there is not a new issue this year. *
Virginia: I was able to be art director for it, and it was a really cool experience being able to experience with this team, and it was awesome to see all of the artwork that our student body was capable of, and it was a really interesting experience. But sadly, since things kind of fell out last year, and we left school due to COVID, we weren’t able to really finalize an end-product, but it was still a really cool experience.
Gianna: Villanueva’s art has been featured in annual Northwood art shows, but recently, she was selected for another exhibit.
Virginia: This year, one of my photographs was chosen by the National Art Honor Society exhibit, so it was chosen as one of the pieces to be displayed. This year their exhibit was online rather than in person, but it was still such a great honor for my piece to be on there.
Revy: The North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities, or NCASA, is a statewide association that highlights student work from across North Carolina.
Virginia: Our Northwood art team for the NCASA actually came in second for our region, so that was really cool, and then I was able to win first place in our region for photography so that has really been very exciting.
Gianna: Have you pursued any art classes outside of Northwood?
Virginia: Recently SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design has been offering free Zoom meetings and they feature a lot of different professional artists and they give a lot of different lessons on a lot of different art forms and I have been attending those, and it’s been very interesting to be a part of those kinds of lessons. I feel like I’ve definitely learned a lot from them.
Revy: How has the pandemic affected your ability to create?
Virginia: The pandemic has kind of been like a double-edged sword I feel like. Sometimes, I mean obviously, I’ve had rough times just being able to get in the zone of creating something, or coming up with an idea when what I really want to do is, like, lay in bed at home. But I feel like also this year, some of my best ideas have come out from being in quarantine, just because I feel like there have been so many emotions linked to it that I feel like I’ve been able to really express myself better this year.
Revy: What’s the next step for you?
Virginia: I am planning to pursue art in my future, just because I feel like it’s a very big part of who I am, and it would kind of be difficult to set aside. I am planning to hopefully go into the fashion field. Clothes and textiles have always just been so interesting to me and that it’s such a public way to express yourself. One of my biggest goals in life is to be able to travel and I feel like fashion is this very global thing that different places and different cultures can really contribute their own ideas and so I think it’s something that everyone can connect with, so I have always been interested in that. I was actually recently accepted into the NC State College of Textiles for Fashion and Textile Management, so I am very excited to see what my future will bring.
[Closing Music]
Gianna: Thanks for listening to this podcast on behalf of The Northwood Omniscient. We hope you learned something from it!
Revy: If you enjoyed, this podcast be on the lookout for more Northwood Artist Series content. Stay tuned for our next episode on poet Malachi Levy!
[End Podcast]
