I tend to get distracted easily. For the longest time, I assumed that there was something wrong with me. However, I have grown to realize that so many things regardless of size or stature amaze me. I spent the latter half of my day staring at the trail of ants in my dorm. Primarily because I wanted to know where it was coming from but additionally because it is mind-blowing how ants are so strong and work together as a team. My favorite parts of exploring are finding new things mainly in areas I've been to before. How did this new object get here? What's the story behind it? All of these thoughts and questions lead to a big focus on rather mundane objects occurring in my art. Objects that we typically do not bat an eye to when encountering them in our daily lives. However, my curiosity brings me to question these objects and stylize them or study them with unique colors or forms. Changing the color of dishes to create a pallet for a painting or creating a contrast between sharp and smooth edges for an apple painting are fun ways of exploring for me. One of the biggest and most recent projects included taking a dull yet beautiful almost flat landscape and transforming it into a colorful bouncy painting about a story of home. I think what makes everyday life so beautiful and influential to me is regardless of how routine my life becomes there will never stop being new things or variations to see and explore.

My artistic submission is a 12 x 24-inch oil painting on fabric stretched onto canvas. The piece is titled Consume the Moon. My painting reflects a desire to pursue and obtain the impossible for myself and those I care about. The black cowboy in a color outfit reflects my hope to remain true to myself and my creativity while completing difficult tasks. The difficult task represented in this painting is pulling the moon down from the sky. On the right side of the painting is a giant baby cow. This cow is greatly cared for by the cowboy and thus he wants to do everything he can for the cow. He starts by pulling down all of the stars in the sky for the cow to consume, however, he soon realizes this will not be enough. The only way to satisfy the cow is through the consumption of the moon. My painting also highlights deep desires to please those you respect and care about. The final factor of the painting is the other cows being stolen by aliens in the nearby town. The aliens are aware of what is happening and do not appreciate the disruption of the solar system. These aliens reflect obstacles in the path of pursuing what you want, however, the cowboy will not be discouraged.

To me, art is a form of conversation and a way for me to standout. My name is James Edward Washington IV. Being the fourth installment for a family, I was to make myself unique. A lot of history comes along with the name I hold, and I intend to add more records to that name. While being African American may make it more challenging to create an impact on this world, I see it as another unique quality about myself. I want to use the things that make me unique to create a better world, and another big thing that makes me unique is my art. Painting has been my passion since the beginning of my first year of high school. Around this time, I became serious about art and decided to pursue it as a career. The first steps in that process would frequently be practicing, getting into an art college or university, and convincing my mom that this would be a good idea. Throughout my youth I often felt alone because my sister was seven years older than me, and I never had a best friend. I spent a lot of time alone in my room, and this led to me watching countless videos on youtube. The videos were art vlogs, sketchbook tours, museum visits, or mural paintings. I latched on tightly to these videos as they became my best friends. Art was there for me when no one else was. Artists like Jess Karp, Kiptoe, and Ruth Speer influence the work I make now. Without those videos, I would have fallen into a difficult dark lonely place. Now that I have a strong connection and relationship to art, I intend to make my education worthwhile and help my community with the art I create. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. Since I am a person of color, I feel the need to tell their stories that often get overlooked. Art can leave an impact on people that they cannot ignore, and I want my paintings to do so. I will continue to use my education to improve my skills and constantly get better. The more confident and robust my skills become, the more stories I can share. This scholarship would fund my art education and allow me to continue painting the stories of my community members, friends, and family.

My name is James Edward Washington IV. Being the fourth adds a particular legacy and expectation to my life. Despite being the fourth installment for a family seeming like repetition, it makes me unique. A lot of history comes along with the name I hold, and I intend to add more records to that name. While being African American may make it more challenging to create an impact on this world, I see it as another unique quality about myself. I want to use the things that make me unique to create a better world, and another big thing that makes me unique is my art. Painting has been my passion since the beginning of my first year of high school. Around this time, I became serious about art and decided to pursue it as a career. The first steps in that process would frequently be practicing, getting into an art college or university, and convincing my mom that this would be a good idea. Coming from a single-parent household, I knew I needed to take as much financial stress off my mother when it came to college. Art schools are notorious for being expensive. Another substantial concern is how difficult it seemed to get a job in an art career. Despite these worries, art, and painting felt like the only thing I was truly good at, and I knew I would not be happy doing anything else for most of my life. At first, my mom seemed quite hesitant. She probably wanted me to continue with engineering or architecture. However, along the way, she came around to the idea and started supporting me in all she could. She would send me articles or information about upcoming art shows I could participate in and buy me art books. It felt amazing to be so supported by my mom, who I know had to work hard to help my sister and me. I intend to make my education worthwhile and help my community with the art I create. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. Since I am a person of color, I feel the need to tell their stories that often get overlooked. Art can leave an impact on people that they cannot ignore, and I want my paintings to do so. I will continue to use my education to improve my skills and constantly get better. The more confident and robust my skills become, the more stories I can share. This scholarship would fund my art education and allow me to continue painting the stories of my community members, friends, and family.

Freedom of creative expression is vital to me because I want to use art to tell my stories and the stories of community members, friends, and family. Art is a powerful tool that can evoke emotions without needing sound or words. I intend to make my education worthwhile and help my community with the art I create. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. The piece displayed with this text is entitled "Classroom". It depicts me and my friend Sierra and represents the concept of a competitive art classroom setting where you compare yourself to others. I wanted to demonstrate some of the harsh realities of art school, especially when you're a minority student. We all compare ourselves to others, but we must remember that we are all different in our strengths and weaknesses.

My name is James Edward Washington IV. Being the fourth adds a particular legacy and expectation to my life. Despite being the fourth installment for a family seeming like repetition, it makes me unique. A lot of history comes along with the name I hold, and I intend to add more records to that name. While being African American may make it more challenging to create an impact on this world, I see it as another unique quality about myself. I want to use the things that make me unique to create a better world, and another big thing that makes me unique is my art. Painting has been my passion since the beginning of my first year of high school. Around this time, I became serious about art and decided to pursue it as a career. The first steps in that process would frequently be practicing, getting into an art college or university, and convincing my mom that this would be a good idea. Coming from a single-parent household, I knew I needed to take as much financial stress off my mother when it came to college. Art schools are notorious for being expensive. Another substantial concern is how difficult it seemed to get a job in an art career. Despite these worries, art and painting felt like the only thing I was truly good at, and I knew I would not be happy doing anything else for most of my life. At first, my mom seemed quite hesitant. She probably wanted me to continue with engineering or architecture. However, along the way, she came around to the idea and started supporting me in all she could. She would send me articles or information about upcoming art shows I could participate in and buy me art books. It felt amazing to be so supported by my mom, who I know had to work hard to help my sister and me. I intend to make my education worthwhile and help my community with the art I create. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. Since I am a person of color, I feel the need to tell their stories that often get overlooked. Art can leave an impact on people that they cannot ignore, and I want my paintings to do so. I will continue to use my education to improve my skills and constantly get better. The more confident and robust my skills become, the more stories I can share. This scholarship would fund my art education and allow me to continue painting the stories of my community members, friends, and family.

Everything we see has some kind of beauty. Everything has its own audience. You just have to be willing to see it in many ways. I try to be as observant as I can in my day-to-day life. Whether that is going on a silent walk and taking in the full extent of my surroundings or exploring buildings around my college campus. I love to explore buildings and my natural surroundings. Seeing something new in a place you've been to countless times is genuinely inspiring. In addition to location, I also like to witness media. I frequently look for new artists to follow and take in their work and read books and magazines. There's inspiration everywhere. I enjoy looking at the patterns and colors in fabric or clothing for new color pallets and ideas. Carrying a sketchbook everywhere you go is great because you never know when inspiration might strike. Some current fascinations of mine are color, patterns, as well as fish. You can choose a random person, place, or thing and create a masterpiece or story using it, which is beautiful.

My name is James Edward Washington IV. Being the fourth adds a particular legacy and expectation to my life. Despite being the fourth installment for a family seeming like repetition, it makes me unique. A lot of history comes along with the name I hold, and I intend to add more records to that name. While being African American may make it more challenging to create an impact on this world, I see it as another unique quality about myself. I want to use the things that make me unique to create a better world, and another big thing that makes me unique is my art. Painting has been my passion since the beginning of my first year of high school. Around this time, I became serious about art and decided to pursue it as a career. The first steps in that process would frequently be practicing, getting into an art college or university, and convincing my mom that this would be a good idea. Coming from a single-parent household, I knew I needed to take as much financial stress off my mother when it came to college. Art schools are notorious for being expensive. Another substantial concern is how difficult it seemed to get a job in an art career. Despite these worries, art and painting felt like the only thing I was truly good at, and I knew I would not be happy doing anything else for most of my life. At first, my mom seemed quite hesitant. She probably wanted me to continue with engineering or architecture. However, along the way, she came around to the idea and started supporting me in all she could. She would send me articles or information about upcoming art shows I could participate in and buy me art books. It felt amazing to be so supported by my mom, who I know had to work hard to help my sister and me. I intend to make my education worthwhile and help my community with the art I create. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. Since I am a person of color, I feel the need to tell their stories that often get overlooked. Art can leave an impact on people that they cannot ignore, and I want my paintings to do so. I will continue to use my education to improve my skills and constantly get better. The more confident and robust my skills become, the more stories I can share. This scholarship would fund my art education and allow me to continue painting the stories of my community members, friends, and family.

My name is James Edward Washington IV. Being the fourth adds a particular legacy and expectation to my life. Despite being the fourth installment for a family seeming like repetition, it makes me unique. A lot of history comes along with the name I hold, and I intend to add more records to that name. While being African American may make it more challenging to create an impact on this world, I see it as another unique quality about myself. Not only will James Edward Washington IV make history, but he will do it as a proud black man. I intend to make this history and help my community with the art I create. I love studio arts, but my main passion is painting. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. Since I am a person of color, I feel a greater need to tell their stories that often get overlooked. Art can leave an impact on people that they cannot ignore, and I want my paintings to do so. I will continue to use my education to improve my skills and constantly get better. The more confident and robust my skills become, the more stories I can share. Some examples of work I've already done include paintings demonstrating the struggles of school and the competitive, draining nature of certain classes. These works were an attempt to share some of the feelings of fellow students. Other examples include portraits of friends, family, and educators I've done. Some may have been just because they wanted t see themselves displayed in an art form, and others were to convey a loving feeling. One of these portraits was of an educator's wife, and her recently departed father. It was a birthday gift for the educator's wife. Upon hearing her reaction, I knew I had achieved what I set out to do. She loved the painting, and it meant a lot to her. The sheer bliss and joy, coupled with some slight sadness she felt, are some of the emotions I want to evoke in viewers. These are the reasons I create. Of course, I enjoy the process, and compliments or money are nice, but I want to help others heal or grow using what I have been given.

Painting has been my passion since the beginning of my first year of high school. Around this time, I became serious about art and decided to pursue it as a career. The first steps in that process would frequently be practicing, getting into an art college or university, and convincing my mom that this would be a good idea. Coming from a single-parent household, I knew I needed to take as much financial stress off my mother when it came to college. Art schools are notorious for being expensive. Another substantial concern is how difficult it seemed to get a job in an art career. Despite these worries, art and painting felt like the only thing I was truly good at, and I knew I would not be happy doing anything else for most of my life. At first, my mom seemed quite hesitant. She probably wanted me to continue with engineering or architecture. However, along the way, she came around to the idea and started supporting me in all she could. She would send me articles or information about upcoming art shows I could participate in and buy me art books. It felt amazing to be so supported by my mom, who I know had to work hard to help my sister and me. I intend to make my education worthwhile and help my community with the art I create. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. Since I am a person of color, I feel the need to tell their stories that often get overlooked. Art can leave an impact on people that they cannot ignore, and I want my paintings to do so. I will continue to use my education to improve my skills and constantly get better. The more confident and robust my skills become, the more stories I can share. Some examples of work I've already done include paintings demonstrating the struggles of school and the competitive, draining nature of certain classes. These works were an attempt to share some of the feelings of fellow students. Other examples include portraits of friends, family, and educators I've done. Some may have been just because they wanted t see themselves displayed in an art form, and others were to convey a loving feeling. One of these portraits was of an educator's wife, and her recently departed father. It was a birthday gift for the educator's wife. Upon hearing her reaction, I knew I had achieved what I set out to do. She loved the painting, and it meant a lot to her. The sheer bliss and joy, coupled with some slight sadness she felt, are some of the emotions I want to evoke in viewers. These are the reasons I create. Of course, I enjoy the process, and compliments or money are nice, but I want to help others heal or grow using what I have been given.

The Ballad of Frankenstein and Antigone (with accompanying painting) Frankenstein, known as the monster No one could ever love him I've been called one for defending my honor Me, Antigone, my situation was grim For Creon condemned me to a cave I thought this would be the end I prepared for my rocky grave Then a figure came from around the bend A tall mismatching man He looked lonely, just like me That's when a new feeling began His presence was ominous, but I didn't flee We left the cave together, hand in hand For we both found someone to love in this land

My name is James Edward Washington IV. Being the fourth adds a particular legacy and expectation to my life. Despite being the fourth installment for a family seeming like repetition, it makes me unique. A lot of history comes along with the name I hold, and I intend to add more records to that name. While being African American may make it more challenging to create an impact on this world, I see it as another unique quality about myself. Not only will James Edward Washington IV make history, but he will do it as a proud black man. I intend to make this history and help my community with the art I create. I love studio arts, but my main passion is painting. I truly enjoy painting other people and telling a story through doing so. You can create so much emotion and narrative with a single image. I want to use the talent God gave me to help tell the stories of other people of color and to help portray what they cannot do on their own. I plan to use my talent to show my community and, eventually, a much larger community important stories that deserve to be seen and heard. Since I am a person of color, I feel a greater need to tell their stories that often get overlooked. Art can leave an impact on people that they cannot ignore, and I want my paintings to do so. I will continue to use my education to improve my skills and constantly get better. The more confident and robust my skills become, the more stories I can share. Some examples of work I've already done include paintings demonstrating the struggles of school and the competitive, draining nature of certain classes. These works were an attempt to share some of the feelings of fellow students. Other examples include portraits of friends, family, and educators I've done. Some may have been just because they wanted t see themselves displayed in an art form, and others were to convey a loving feeling. One of these portraits was of an educator's wife, and her recently departed father. It was a birthday gift for the educator's wife. Upon hearing her reaction, I knew I had achieved what I set out to do. She loved the painting, and it meant a lot to her. The sheer bliss and joy, coupled with some slight sadness she felt, are some of the emotions I want to evoke in viewers. These are the reasons I create. Of course, I enjoy the process, and compliments or money are nice, but I want to help others heal or grow using what I have been given.

My name is James Washington and I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. I worked at the High Museum of Art during the summer of my junior year and over the span of my senior year. I really enjoyed the job and got to learn so much about art. There were so many artists and art movements. I was inspired by a lot of pieces by Claude Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe, and El Anatsui. This year I’ve really grown with my art and decided what I want to do with my life. Since I was a kid, I was fascinated by art and architecture. Creating art has been a constant in my life since elementary school, but I only became serious about it the summer before my freshman year. Having been admitted to the AP studio art class in my junior year without any prerequisites, that was when I knew I could be an artist regardless of my career path. Since art has had such a heavy influence on my life, I think it is important that everyone can express themselves and feel that same connection that I had. There are so many people who fail to realize that art is an outlet that anyone and everyone can use to express themselves when words cannot. It doesn’t matter whether you have skill or talent because anyone can create art. The beauty of art is that anyone can feel or perceive it however they like. That's why it makes up such a big part of pop culture and media. This means that not only can these big artists express themselves and share it, but everyone can also perceive the art in whatever way makes them feel good. Whether it is a matter of opinion, values, or experiences, art initiates change and discussion. Changes like these are a necessary part of this developing world, and they reinforce the foundations on which this society has been built. Without art, many important topics and people throughout history would go unspoken about. For example, the portraits of Frida Kahlo that allowed her to vent and express her true colors resulted in a legacy left behind for many young artists to follow, or the art of Keith Haring with his subjects reflecting New York’s socioeconomic problems in the 1980s. No matter when it was made or what it was supposed to reflect, all art means something and art means something to the world. Working at the High museum meant I got to view everyone’s reflections and opinions on pieces. I had insider knowledge of certain pieces of art and could help explain the concept to visitors if they liked it. Being able to better help someone understand a piece or help someone be able to make their own opinion on the piece was a skill I cherished. It meant even if they didn’t like the piece, they ultimately understood it or even its importance. So many people came to visit the High and it really showed me that people actually care about art. Others caring about art make me want to help everyone who might not know anything about it but is willing to learn everything because art is important to society.

My name is James Washington and I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. I worked at the High Museum of Art during the summer of my junior year and over the span of my senior year. I really enjoyed the job and got to learn so much about art. There were so many artists and art movements. I was inspired by a lot of pieces by Claude Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe, and El Anatsui. This year I’ve really grown with my art and decided what I want to do with my life. In college, I want to pursue both illustration and architecture in a professional setting, which would help me transform my passion into a successful career. I used to believe that the only reason for taking a major and a minor would be to have two career options. However, now I’ve realized that taking a major and a minor provides me with the resources to build off one another. I’ve always had a big connection with art and architecture that would allow me to build off these careers very easily. However, it wasn’t always that way. Creating art has been a constant in my life since Elementary school but I was never serious about it until the summer before freshmen year. When I was admitted into the AP studio art class in my junior year without any prerequisite, that’s when I knew I wanted to produce artwork for whatever career I chose. During my junior year AP art class, I needed to create a portfolio that focused on a topic or central theme. I had no idea what to do for my concentration. There were so many different concepts that it was almost scary trying to figure out which to use. However, at that moment, I reassessed the situation and remembered how I wanted to combine art and architecture in a project. This was the perfect opportunity so I decided to use the structure as the central topic for my concentration. I created 12 pieces about the structure of buildings that were real and fake, statues, and some transportation. I created new buildings using digital software and drew architectural sketches to statues and already existing buildings. I wanted to focus on how structures get to where they are today and how they interact with nature. I really liked how most of the pieces came out and felt successful in my goal. This has made me very confident in my degree plans for college.

This is the one and only self-portrait I've ever made. I'm not a fan of drawing myself, but I like this piece. It's entitled "How'd I Get Here?" since curiosity is one of the qualities I value most about myself. I really love my sense of wonder and curiosity. Since I have always been curious and adventurous ever since I can remember, I wanted to depict that in my portrait with my facial expression and the background. I love to take inspiration from my surroundings and explore the world around me. I hope to translate that into my artwork in the future. I really want to go to an art school and hone my skills further. I have big dreams and plans to become an architect and illustrator. With this piece, I realized I could actually use art in my life.

In my junior year, we were placed on lockdown and had to complete the school year via zoom. Despite doing all my work and passing my classes, this was the hardest time in my life. The most challenging aspect of virtual school was staying motivated. I found it very difficult when I was surrounded by so many distractions and didn't have to get dressed each morning. I also didn't like to wake up at 8 am every morning to get on a Zoom call and receive physics lectures. Although I was at home and could rest whenever I still felt very exhausted frequently. Over quarantine, the only thing that kept me motivated was the discovery of music. I rarely listened to music during school hours or once I returned home. Music has never held any special meaning for me and I had never felt any emotions through it. Songs were just harmonious notions sprinkled with words here and there. While listening to them I felt no emotion other than content and enjoyment. All of this to say there was little meaningful connection between the music and me. One day I decided to play a playlist throughout the day. I turned on the tv and switched to Spotify while simultaneously joining my first zoom call. Soon I realized I was becoming more productive than I had been before. The music was helping me focus because I was somewhat doing the work to the tune of the songs and singing the songs kept me engaged in my work. After all, there was no need to look around the room or go somewhere else since I had the music distracting me from other distractions. Eventually, I had gone through the same playlist 4 times and got bored of listening to the same songs. I started listening to hour-long playlists on YouTube by different artists. This worked out perfectly since I wanted to discover more music like this. I clicked on a playlist titled, “The best of Clairo”. I'd only listened to about two Clairo songs in my original playlist but I liked them a lot so I figured I’d give the rest a try. These YouTube playlists had an even better effect than my own playlists. I had the opportunity to appreciate hearing new music since I had never heard it before. Seeing as the playlist was one artist, I focused more on the lyrics and style of the artist. This helped me build a connection with Clairo specifically. Her music made me feel different emotions. The songs we're all different ranges of speed and strength. Clairo helped me discover a new aspect of myself and my relationship with music. She was one of the first artists that I felt I built a genuine connection with despite never knowing her. Even after I had listened to the YouTube playlist I wasn’t done yet. There were all types of videos on the internet like music videos, slowed or live versions of songs, and interviews. All of these extra aspects I would have never really considered caring about until listening to an artist with an all-new mindset. All of this newfound motivation and connections helped me pass my junior year of high school with all As despite being virtual. Now I listen to multiple artists and have different playlists for how I'm feeling. Though I haven't completely grasped the fine points of sound, rhythm, and melody yet, I am well aware of how important music, as well as the genuine connections we make with artists, are.