Bayli Lake Memorial Scholarship for Creative Excellence

Growing up I never had consistency, I lived in an abusive household until I was 12 where I was taken out of my house and placed with my nana. As one can imagine this very important time for my development made me never fit in with everyone else. I had PTSD and was struggling to stay afloat amidst the ever changing world around me, enter high school, losing friend groups, adjusting to my new life and accepting my childhood. But one thing got me to where I am today, my love of art. I could create worlds through my brush, express my trauma in a way words would not allow. This love of art opened up many doors for me, I made new friends through joining my schools National Art Honor society and got to learn leadership skills by helping to organize events. Through this organization I got to do one of the most healing things, we went to a local elementary school and did art activities with the children. Getting to pass on the love of art, getting to see their enthusiasm for the craft was just so heart warming because I saw me in them, a fellow artist in the making. After graduating and going to college I now see art in a whole new light, being allowed to hone in on art for hours has been crucial in my art career and my understanding of it (both skill and what it means to make art). This last year however I have seen myself hit a wall, because of the fact my parents are out of the picture I support myself financially 100%, even with all the financial aid I can get I still have to work 30+ hour work weeks just to barely pay my tuition. This has been very stressful for me, not only financially but because I can see it affect my art, I can’t put all of my focus into my art, I don’t have the same time I once did to pour my entire heart into what I am doing. All this to say if I got this scholarship it would allow me the opportunity to do what I love again, the opportunity to full focus on improving my art instead of stressing if I’ll have the money to do what I love. Art is my entire world, I don’t want to lose this opportunity I’ve worked so hard to get because I can’t financially support it. Thank you for your consideration and for taking the time to read my application.

Hello! I just wanted to quickly say that words could never measure up for that kind of situation, but I'm so sorry for the loss of your daughter. It's very sweet of you to be doing this for other art students in her honor, and it'll be greatly appreciated by whoever you choose. I pray peace of mind over your family. I also want to throw out there that I used to attend SCAD as well with a major in illustration! I transferred after a year because of financial hardships, and I now attend ASU Online. But what I absolutely loved was being engrossed in a creative environment with other like-minded artists. I truly believe it helped me to flourish and bring about my best efforts, especially with my peers cheering each other on. Being an online student now has its drawbacks in terms of my surroundings, but I make great use of the online art communities. As for conveying lived experiences, I enjoyed making portraits of my family members as gifts for them or their family. I especially love capturing their happiest moments on my phone and then using those pictures as references for me to work off of in a traditional medium. My most recent piece was actually a portrait of my Titi Santa and Tio Dino. In English, she is my great aunt, and he was my great uncle. Titi Santa is 82 years old and has Alzheimer's. She doesn't remember saying her goodbyes to her husband who passed away at the beginning of this year, January 29th, and it's something that she feels distraught over daily. I thank God that I had a photo of the two during my Tio's 84th birthday party. I photoshopped it a bit and prepped it be a great reference picture. One important change I made was alter the number on the cake to 86, the age at which he passed. I created this portrait of the two to show my Titi that she did get to say her goodbyes and with it being done in an affectionate send-off. I framed it and gifted it her, and... it's something genuinely appreciated by her and the rest of my family. I brought this specific piece up so as to say that I'm very goal-oriented. When I want to convey to my loved ones how much I adore them, I make them a portrait showing how beautiful I see them- sometimes in a stylistic illustration style and other times in a realistic style. And when I want to make a fun and imaginative piece, I fully dedicate my time and skills in visually interpreting that. I think I have a very passionate soul when it comes to art, and that shows in the amount of details or vivid colors I have in my pieces. Nowadays, I've decided to instead pursue the art field with a dream of becoming a Certified Medical Illustrator. So I must invest my time in honing realistic details only! But I genuinely feel so much more fulfilled knowing that my art pieces will be helping others. In my vision, I see myself providing visual instructions to other medical professionals to study life-saving or life-easing processes; I love the thought of contributing to someone’s physical betterment. However, this entire journey is pretty expensive… I will be working while in school, saving up however much I can because the needed master’s program is a pretty penny in itself. But however much I can round up through scholarships is a huge blessing that will be greatly appreciated. Check out my website! https://suleitha.wixsite.com/suli-n-illustrates