Memories
By Iliana Liborio-Navidad
Gabby Fogarty said, “I am tired of crappy merchandise when I go on tours. I can make my own.” Fogarty is one of the seven seniors who presented at the senior art exhibition Spectrum. She was born and raised from Valdosta, Georgia and she currently finishing up her BFA major and minor in psychology. Fogarty’s art medium of interest is digital art, but she also creates colleges. Fogarty often looks at digital art, more specifically fan art and believes digital art is an accessible art medium. The content Fogarty watched such as anime, manga, and YouTube inspired her to draw. A youtuber who influenced her was Jazza, who used to be known as Drawing with Jazza. Jazza created content that involved art challenges and then ventured out into creating art courses and art boxes. Fogarty stated that Jazza is one of the reasons she wanted to improve as an artist and try as many art mediums as possible.
Fogarty wanted to learn more about digital art as a college freshman by using apps recommended by her uncle such as clip studio paint. Later, Fogarty started using adobe suite for her graphic design classes as they are given to students taking classes that adobe. Until recently, she only made art for classes since there was already a decided theme. She would add flowers to her projects to represent a memory in college. Fogarty stated she came to college not to be in debt but for the college experience. During her time working at Disney in 2022, Fogarty did not have access to any art supplies, so she started collaging. She still tries to incorporate her work from Disney into her work now. Since music is important to Fogarty, she also incorporates music into her work. Fogarty uses art to represent herself and the memories she created.
In the recent art exhibition Spectrum, Fogarty presented five pieces influenced by artists which included WavetoEarth the indie rock band, Toru Yamashita from One Ok Rock, and the K Pop idol Woodz into her pieces. Fogarty created two of her featured pieces Blossom and Glow at the same time; the pieces were inspired by Fogarty’s memorable moments. Blossom is on a mounted poster that features a worm’s eye view of the guitarist from One Ok Rock, Toru Yamashita, playing the guitar in greyscale color palette in the foreground. In the background, there are organic and fluid like shapes in gradients of blue and purple. Behind Yamashita is a large circle wrapped around what appears to be a fabric. Glow is shown on a mounted poster that includes the K pop idol, Woodz, on the foreground in a full body portrait in grayscale. The prominent orange shapes are more fluid in this piece. She used the pictures she took at the concerts, inserted them into adobe illustrator, and placed them on two different art boards. Then, she played around with shapes and the mesh tool to create organic shapes and movement within the pieces. The pieces The Imperfect Completion: Ver 1 and 2 includes the indie band WavetoEarth on two vinyl covers and resin made vinyl. On the Brown or burgundy cover are three figures that appear to be the vocalist and guitarist of the group, Daniel Kim. In the foreground surrounding Kim are different types of flowers that include lilies of the valley and roses. In the blue vinyl cover Kim is playing the guitar surrounded by flowers. Fogarty described the process of creating the vinyl as having to be precise. She got a vinyl from Goodwill and mold maker from Micheals to create the vinyl. The difficulty she experienced with the vinyl was the curing part because the vinyl had to dry, but due to the humidity, the curing took longer.
Within the art exhibition Spectrum, the senior students had to choose their own theme and Fogarty’s theme was memories. The work Fogarty showed at the exhibition represented memories of the concerts she enjoyed. Blossom included Toru Yamashita from One Ok Rock who she enjoyed listening to for over 10 years, and she had the chance to see them at Disney. The colors for Glow represented the excitement and gratitude she had. Glow depicted an Alanta concert Fogarty went to by herself to see the K Pop idol, Woodz, before his mandatory military service. She described the event as an awesome way to enjoy her Friday after finals. She met and connected with a lot of other fans during the event. Fogarty was nervous but thrilled she was able to attend Woodz last concert. While describing the orange color gradient, Fogarty stated, “Glow was more of a happiness and proud moment. I was very surprised at myself and motivated to go out and really push myself.” This concert was included because she faced her fears of going alone, which made her more confident.
Fogarty wanted to learn more about digital art as a college freshman by using apps recommended by her uncle such as clip studio paint. Later, Fogarty started using adobe suite for her graphic design classes as they are given to students taking classes that adobe. Until recently, she only made art for classes since there was already a decided theme. She would add flowers to her projects to represent a memory in college. Fogarty stated she came to college not to be in debt but for the college experience.
Iliana Liborio-Navidad is a junior at Valdosta University studying art education. After graduation, Iliana plans to be a high school art teacher.