Claudia McKay
Visual artist
I am a visual artist whose major academic interests include science, philosophy, language arts, and curation. I wholeheartedly believe community is intrinsic to success and ethical success is done through community.
My goal is to become a full-time artist, teach art, and create gallery space for artists who deserve to be recognized. Post high school graduation, I have been accepted and plan to attend Paris College of Art in Paris, France. I plan to earn my bachelor’s degree in fine arts. After college, I want to create art, curate art, and start building my own art collection. Next, I want to teach art, there’s more to art than just learning the principles. People say there isn’t any money in art; we use the term, “starving artist”, but that doesn’t have to be reality. I want to teach other artists how to be successful, independent, entrepreneurs so they can do what they love. Lastly, my mom has taught me the importance of leaving a legacy; I want to invest in gallery spaces so underserved artists have a place to work and share their art.
It Begins
Art is where my heart is and has been in a competitive artistic environment. I want to ensure the higher education I pursue puts me into a place in the world in which I have the resources to create opportunities for myself and thus others. Starting at 8 years old when my mother gave me her old sketchbook, my first, I began drawing. We had just moved from Florida to Virginia and I was starting at a completely new school away from all of my friends. At this age, my biggest interests were fairy tales and fiction which became what I drew. I loved drawing werewolves and recreating the drawings of cartoons I loved. I continued drawing through middle school. All three years for my elective courses I took choir full year, digital art for my first semester, and theatre for my second. In 8th grade, my mother told me about an arts high school in DC that I could apply to. Living in Alexandria, Virginia at the time, there was only one local high school. The campus was so full that a separate campus was made specifically to hold 9th graders. I remember visiting that campus in my last couple of months of school and just absolutely dreading the energy of the building; So, I applied to Duke Ellington School of the Arts for the visual arts program.
Artist’s Work
