Amber Yun

Feat. Kevin Liu

Hi, my name is Kevin Liu! I am an artist from Winchester, Massachusetts. I currently reside in Hank Ingram, and I am a Biochemistry and Spanish double major pursuing a minor in studio art.

What is your primary medium of art?

I typically work with two-dimensional media: pastels,chalk, colored pencil, graphite, water color

When did you get into drawing?

This is what my mom says at least [laughs]: I would draw on the walls all the time. So, she was like, “You know what? Let’s put this to use.” So, she signed me up for art classes when I was about 5, and I did them until 10^th grade, took a break for a little bit, pursuing art on my own, and then joined again in 11^th  and 12^th grade to just develop my technique.

I have to thank my mom for all of this. I was really lucky in that in our neighborhood, there were a lot of kids who were really interested in art. We were about 5 years apart in ago, and every Tuesday she would bring all the kids together and hire an art tutor to give us lessons. The emphasis in the first three years especially was on technique, so we’d do a lot of still life’s where they would put an object down and we would draw it. It feels weird saying it like that, because for me it was just Tuesdays. [laughs] After about three years it became more creative, which is what I really liked, so we’d still have an object that we would base our drawings on, but he gave us the liberty to make a background and build a story around it, which is what I really fell in love with.

Your parents seem very supportive of you and your creative interests? Was there ever any push back?

Their intent was to expose me to different fields—they put me in music and sports, too. As I got older, it became clear that although art is good as a hobby, I should be looking into different things. But I do have to thank them for giving me the exposure and for being so supportive. Like, they didn’t ever say, “This is great, but you should focus on your studies”. They would be like, “Oh, this is great. I like what you did here. Keep making stuff,” which I’m very appreciative for.

What does art mean to you?

It’s very hard to define art. It’s something that’s unique to every person. Every person that makes it, every person that looks to it.  

I look at art as a puzzle. I like to do surrealism in my pieces and try to find ways to express abstract and intangible concepts, and say how can I present this, not necessarily concretely, but visually. As something that people can see.

Art to me isn’t just an activity, it’s something that affects everything—especially how you view the world and events. Sports are great, but a lot of times there may be equipment you need, there may be space you need, there may be other people that you need. Music is wonderful too.  You can always listen to it, but in order to create it—unless you’re a vocalist—you have to have an instrument and space to perform. But, for me, art is just the essence of creativity. And part of that is just seeing the world in different ways. Like, you can look at this one way, but what if I change the angle and change the light. And that’s something you can apply that in your everyday life.

Featuring Shun Ahmed

Hi, my name is Shun Ahmed! My hometown is right here in Nashville, TN, and right now, I live in Memorial House. I am planning on majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Political Science and minoring in Communications.

What is your primary medium of art?

Right now, I take photography, videography, and film. I mainly do photography, though, for both business and creative purposes.

What spurred your interest in cameras?

When I was super, super young, my dad got me a camera. It was a $20 camera from the thrift shop. A Sony AX 6, I think, like the second oldest version of Sony. It was super old and completely broken, but my dad got it for me, because he knew I wanted to find a hobby. Plus, both my parents are refugees, and they didn’t go out much. They didn’t like me going out with people they didn’t really know. So, they brought that home for me when I was around 4 or 5 years old—you can’t expect parents to know exactly what a kid wants. I was so bewildered and happy. So then, I played around with it for a year and started reading up in the library about how a camera worked. Tried to fix it myself. I think I broke like half of the camera, so I can’t use the flash anymore, but I still got pictures out of it. They were super grainy, but I worked with it.

When I was in 5^th grade, I got a fully clear picture to come out. It was of my little sister. It came out, and I completely fell in love with it. She smiled and said take a picture, and I looked at it and said, “Holy shit, this works!”. After that happened, I started trying more and more to take cool pictures. And then at the end of 5^th grade, I was pushed into this poetry competition—I did spoken word for a while before this—and I won the first place prize which was an actual camera. From then on, I bloomed and did photography at concerts and weddings, networked a little bit and pushed myself for 2 years. And now, people ask me to take pictures for them.

You mentioned that the first clear picture was of your little sister. Who or what is your favorite subject to capture now?  

Concerts. They produce the coolest lighting and the coolest pictures.

I love music. And watching someone perform, you can see how magical they turn when you take a picture. Plus, a lot of the concert lighting makes it seem like they have this different aura to them. One of my good friends Cameron, who is a musician, asked me to take pictures of his show. I took a picture of him singing his heart out and surrounded in blue lighting, It was the purest moment of he’s in his happy place. The next picture was of the audience, all of them looking at him in awe. You can’t capture more magical moments than this, because it’s someone doing what they love in front of everyone.

The first concert that I went to that had me actually fall in love with everything was Cursive the band, which has the weirdest group dynamic because it’s a bunch of 40-year-olds who look like failed gym school teachers. I remember getting a picture—on the grainy camera—of a lady with an electric violin flipping her hair. It came out perfectly. She was gleaming yellow; she was literally golden. And I was like, this is what I want to do.

Before you leave us: do you have any photographers or other content producers that you really love and would highly recommend checking out?

Bertie Gilbert – a filmmaker who works with contrast in lighting. I’ve fallen in love with every one of his short films, especially “Stomping Ground” and “Let It Be”.

KickThe Pj (PJ Liguori) – a YouTuber who creates fantastical ghosts and monsters and sci-fi ordeals.

Hunter Long –  my friend here at Vanderbilt. He has a very good eye for what he does.

If you are a performing musician or just want spectacular photos of yourself or an event, hit Shun up!

Phone: (615) 674-7921

Email: [email protected]

Insta: @shunahmedphotography

Future & Past, Then & Now

If you’re in need of a creative caffeine boost this stressful midterm season, check out the Fine Arts Gallery located on the Peabody Esplanade, right here on our Commons home shore. This gallery is a hidden gem encased in the floor-to-ceiling marble antiques sanctuary that is Cohen Memorial (directly beside North House—my dorm!). You can get hands-on with student-designed, 3-D printed models of ancient Mediterranean artifacts and a mini zen garden-like archaeologist’s sand box that harkens back to simpler days. These items are from the Digital Futures, Archaeological Pasts exhibition displayed in the gallery’s far room, coming to a close THIS Thursday, the 31^st, so get in there now!

If you can’t make it to Cohen by Thursday, the Then & Now: Five Centuries of Woodcuts exhibition will be open until March 1^st. You can view woodcuts—an old printmaking technique by way of carving designs into wood—as old as a pre-Columbus print on paper and as recent as a 2007 short animated film on the Christian Creation Story but subverted, full with tarot cards, Jack-in-the-Box, and a God named Nobodaddy.  

Featuring Christine Zhou

Hi, my name is Christine Zhou! I call Nantong, China my hometown, and I’m planning to major in Neuroscience and Computer Science.
I’m a first-year photographer currently residing in Sutherland House.

Hi, Christine! Could you tell us about when you first started taking pictures?

I first got a DSLR when I was in 8th grade. It was from a free raffle my dad got. He didn’t really use it much, so I took it for my own purposes. Obviously I was very trashy then, but I was just captivated by how good it is to capture the beauty you see. Sometimes, I wish that my eyes are the cameras, so that I can capture moments without people noticing, because there are a lot of moments where I wish I had a camera.

Some photographers like to take a break from the camera every once in awhile to let life pass by naturally. Do you ever feel the need to do that?

I definitely agree that sometimes taking pictures is very interrupting to your experience. I did go through this period where when my friends and I went out, I kept ending up bringing a camera. Sometimes, I’m just too focused on what I can capture on my camera. And it’s as if I’m seeing the world through the camera alone, and that’s not healthy, because a lot of people live their lives perfectly fine without this recording device. I just think of photography as an outlet for my needs. It’s almost like I need to ensure that I have a beautiful life. Or that the people around me are beautiful. So, from this perspective, I think photographers are subhuman, not that they are lower, but a lot of people think artists are super, because they can create, but I think a lot of times, it stems from a need that is not always controllable and might be dark.

You’ve done a lot of beautiful landscape photography. Is that your primary focus?

I’ve been doing a lot of landscapes, because I had trouble finding real humans to shoot. But I’m definitely more interested in capturing humans and animals–basically any moving things. It’s more challenging and more interesting, because it’s an interaction between you and the model, versus landscapes that can sometimes be one-directional. The chemistry between you and the model can be very interesting. You have to devise how they look, how they’re willing to perform in front of you, and how they treat you. So, it’s also a practice of interpersonal relationships.

Who do you want to take portraits of?

Beautiful people.

What makes someone beautiful?

It’s not the look. It’s the posture. It’s how you are inside. Even if someone has really good facial features, if their inside is not as good-looking as their outside, it can have some very interesting effects.

This is a human to human interaction. And I’m not in it for money or anything. For me, it has to be genuine. I feel the connection, so I want to portray the beauty out of you. I think the most beautiful moments are the humane moments, like the beauty of humanity, kindness, and understanding. It’s like having good bones. You may have good skin, but if you don’t have a good skeleton to support it, it’s just creepy.

Is there anyone you’ve met recently who has inspired you with their humane beauty?

I’ve met people that I want to take pictures of, but, if I’m honest, a lot of times, they turn out to be different people than I thought. But there is this one girl named Jesse: she is really pretty, and she is really kind, and she really takes me as a friend.

I just try to picture the beauty of people around me. I’m sure there are lots of beautiful people out there with beautiful insides and outsides, but if they don’t contact me, and I don’t know them how the hell am I supposed to take a picture of them?

You heard it from her, folks! If you would like to spend time with a rad artist and genuinely cool person (plus, get a sparkly new portrait in the process!) let Christine know at:

[email protected]

A Q&A with Justine Kaemmerlen

MCL: Hi, Justine! Could you introduce yourself for us?

JK: Hi! My name is Justine Kaemmerlen, and I’m from Saint Louis, Missouri. I’m a senior with an HOD major and an art minor; currently, I’m the Editor-in-Chief of The Vanderbilt Review. In the past I’ve been an Art Editor for The Review, and I’ve been on staff for The Review since the first semester of my freshman year. It’s absolutely been my favorite club here at Vandy—I love being able to curate a publication of student work each year!

MCL: What is your primary medium of expression? 

JK: I am a visual artist, and my favorite methods of expression are photography, painting, and drawing. I’m currently teaching myself printmaking at home, and I’m enrolled in a few art classes (painting and photography), which is a great way to add balance to my academic load. I’ve always found that my happiest semesters are those where I’m enrolled in an art class, so I made sure to feed my soul in my final semester here at Vanderbilt by enrolling in two. I highly encourage other students to find their passion and put themselves into at least one class per semester that makes them happy and fulfilled; it makes life at Vandy much more manageable and less overwhelming when you can focus some time on something you love to do.

MCL: You said you were Editor-in-Chief for the Vanderbilt Review. What is the Vanderbilt Review exactly, and how would interested freshman submit their own creative pieces for publication?

JK: The Vanderbilt Review is Vandy’s student-run undergraduate literary magazine, and we put out a publication each spring that contains student art, prose, and poetry. The submission process is super easy – just click this link ( https://bit.ly/2OyiC7L ) and fill out the form by uploading your pieces and answering a few questions. You can submit the form as many times as you’d like! After the submission deadline arrives (We just pushed it to January 21st at 11:59 pm, so there is still time to submit!!), our staff will sort through the submissions and decide which pieces will be accepted into this year’s publication. The physical publication will be printed and handed out on campus towards the end of the semester, and we will host a launch party once they arrive to commemorate the occasion. It is a great way to get some work published before leaving college and a fun way to advertise your own work!

MCL: As an avid art lover, where are the best places to go to seek out student made art on campus?

JK: There are often showcases on campus in the Studio Arts building that are a great way to see student art. I’d also recommend attending musicals put on by groups like Vanderbilt Off-Broadway and the Original Cast, spoken word shows put on by groups like Vanderbilt Spoken Word, and reaching out to the creative writing and art departments to see if there are going to be any student-led exhibitions happening soon. There are also a variety of dance performances put on throughout the year, such as the Diwali Showcase and Lunar New Year’s Festival, that are easily accessible to the entire Vanderbilt community.

MCL: Okay, so if Nashville is “Music City” and Belmont could be called Nashville’s “hippie wild child”. How would you describe the “character” of Vanderbilt’s art scene?

JK: I would characterize Vanderbilt as a hidden gem. Sadly, the arts culture on this campus, in my opinion, is much less visible and accessible on this campus compared to others around the country. I have a feeling it has to do with how rigorous the university is as a whole, and the pressure people put onto themselves to stick with more “secure” academic disciplines compared to at other schools. However, if you spend some time and effort searching, you will be able to find very strong creative individuals scattered throughout the campus and a variety of events and activities catered to the arts community.  They may be much less visible here than places like Belmont, but they definitely still exist.

MCL: And finally, do you have any content recommendations for us before we leave?

JK: I draw inspiration from many different places, even those who are not necessarily “creatives” in the traditional sense. One of my biggest inspirations is actually my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami; his writing style really puts me in a great mindset to do good creative work and look at the world in a new way. I love looking at National Geographic’s photography for inspiration. I also follow tons of artists on Instagram, like The Jealous Curator, which curates a wide variety of art that is super cool. I’m also inspired by artists like Kehinde Wiley, Araki Koman, Cayce Zavaglia, Eric Landon (the ceramicist), and Lili Arnold. I’ve been following them on social media and at shows for a few years now, and I am inspired by the different mediums they work in as well as the different parts of the world they live in. Social media is a great way to see the work other contemporary artists are making these days. 

***For all you funky, passionate, creative souls out there (I know you are listening; make yourself known!), make sure to submit any and all of your work—prose, poetry, painting, screenplay, etc.—to the Vanderbilt Review by Monday, Jan. 21^st. The link can be found above.***