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Black Artists At Vanier Arts Campus 

Black Artists At Vanier

Happy Black History Month! This is a month that was made to look back on the great people that paved the way for us, but also to appreciate our current black kings and queens! The talented and amazing up and coming black artists that are featured in this article make this blessed month even more of a celebration.

Interviewed in this piece are students from the Communications program here at Vanier. I am a Communications student myself (@Ari_Kiara), and I can proudly say that in the program we are like a big family and everyone looks out for one another, but there’s often not enough recognition for the hard work we do. So, I wanted to bring awareness to our program and the talented black individuals in it through interviewing six black artists.

 

Interviewed first was Olivier Angy Morancy (@lolo_boy_offical_)  an amazing and charismatic rapper.

AR:  Do you have any works on the way, or any recent finish works you want to talk about?

OM: Yeah, I have mixtape called The Devil’s Hit List coming out, six songs about different subjects like cheating, fake friends, corruption, poverty and hood mentality. I called it The Devil’s Hit List because I thought of all the people that did me wrong in my lifetime.

AR: What inspires while making your art or who is your inspiration?

OM: A lot of my inspiration comes from my pain, but the aim for my music is to make people happy and spread awareness but I do put phrases in to express how I feel personally, like if I’m going through something, you know. I also get inspiration from J Cole, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, PartyNextDoor, Jason Mraz and Johnny Cash.

AR: What techniques did you learn here at Vanier that you apply to your work?

OM: Design, I try to design my own clothing and sell it and the class really helped me learn how to make designs in different styles, also photography, I would not have imaged myself being interested in it, I edit my own pictures, so I can really make the kinds of images I want. I learned how to film and direct, so I use that when making my music videos, I can make sure that all my works have the vision I want.

AR: After your time at Vanier, what do you see yourself doing?

OM: Continue in the arts, I want to open a studio with my brother, so we can teach young artists in black communities. I want to make it affordable and encourage them to be their best.

AR: How does your cultural upbringing influence your work ethic /art?

OM: My family struggled, I grew up in a Haitian-American household. So, I was always taught that being black, I must work twice as hard and it’s not easy for us at all. My parents were against me being in the arts, I had to either be a doctor like my mother or anything else. I just want to change the way black people are perceived and bring positivity, I was brought up to be hard working so I’m working hard to reach my goals.

AR: Would you like to shout out your favourite black artist here at Vanier?

OM: Shout out to, my Brother Lyvens, Jeffrey, Shan, Lonik, Catherine, Dale in the photo lab, shout out to all the black artists, we got to support each other, if we don’t know one else will. We’re black and we’re proud, so shout out you all of you.

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(Olivier)

 

 

The next artist is a very talented Photographer/videographer named Melannie Jonas-Ng (@melly_octo)

AR: Do you have any works on the way, or any recent finish works you want to talk about?

MJ: I do have ideas for more works coming but nothing physical for them yet, but I have past works, A photo book, two films that got excepted into Vanier Film Festival, we’re going to one this semester so come and support inspiring film makers guys! I also have ambiguous works on my Instagram which involves a lot of story telling, I hope art works inspire other people and invoke their motivation.

AR: What inspires while making your art or who is your inspiration?

MJ: I get inspiration from music video videos, the way they’re dressed or the way they use sound stuff like that, there’s also books, fan fictions, cosplays, it lets me make up stories for my works/projects.

AR: What techniques did you learn here at Vanier that you apply to your work?

MJ: Since I took film 1 and 2 also photography 1 and 2, I learned about Composition, lighting, shadows, making things look as natural as possible when using models, we learned what’s our own style of photography.

AR: After your time at Vanier, what do you see yourself doing?

MJ: Right now, I really don’t know, I do want to work with people or in a team and create short films or videos, travel around the works and create different kinds of works, I want to keep on incorporating story telling in my future works/ projects. I want to be director or photographer, but I don’t know yet.

AR: How does your cultural upbringing influence your work ethic /art?

MJ: In most of my works I use people of colour, I try not to incorporate topics like black history or struggles in my works, because I feel like we should have representation of black people and not just the story of black people and how we have and still do struggle. I’m Guyanese and Chinese, so art is not really included in those cultures, its mostly about getting that traditional “stable job” and work hard. So, my parents were worried at first that I was in the arts, but as I showed them my projects they began to understand me. I was raised to work twice as hard because of my blackness. But in the arts, I don’t feel that pressure at all because everyone has their own audience.

AR: Would you like to shout out your favourite black artist here at Vanier?

MJ: Yeah! Jeffery, he’s one of the hardest working people I know. Also, all the teachers I’ve had they are amazing.

 

 

The next person I interviewed is a hard working multi-disciplinary artist named Jeffrey Asuming Tawiah (@ saturdayasumptions)

AR: Do you have any works on the way, or any recent finish works you want to talk about?

JT: Currently I’m working on a beat tape called Icarus and 5 others, also I will be showcasing 4 paintings about the representation of black people in art and media at the Rialto theatre on February 26th, and a current work I finished would be the beat tape I dropped called In Due Time on my Soundcloud and Instagram @saturdayasumptions

AR: What inspires while making your art or who is your inspiration?

JT: Visually I would say Kehinde Wiley and Kerry James Marshall, two amazing painters, musically I would say Kanye, Frank Ocean, Childish Gambino, Tyler the Creator and Mac Miller. Also, High Classified, a Laval producer is a big inspiration for me.

AR: What techniques did you learn here at Vanier that you apply to your work?

JT: A major technique I learned was from Elaine, and that was to stop talking and just work, I also learned to be more comfortable using colours. Right now, I love using warm tones.

AR: After your time at Vanier, what do you see yourself doing?

JT: I would like to be a creative director and work with other artists.

AR: How does your cultural upbringing influence your work ethic /art?

JT: both of my parents are Ghanaian so when I told my mom I wanted to do art she said I could as long I can make money from it too, my cultural upbringing is that we have to be the best at what you do, so, I want to work hard and be the best at what I do.

AR: Would you like to shout out your favourite black artist here at Vanier?

JT: he is not a black artist but I just want to shout out Henri, he pushed me to keep painting and he’s an amazing teacher so is Keith, thank you both so much. Now there’s so many black artists here, I’ll start with Elaine, Melannie, Oliver, Vishan, Tai, there’s so many, please support your local artists!

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(Jeffrey)

 

 

The next artist is an illustrator and the nicest person you’ll ever meet, Elaine Edwards (@_its_elaine_)

AR: Do you have any works on the way, or any recent finish works you want to talk about?

EE: In my web design class, I had to make a logo for my website and I’m proud of it, now I’m working on the design of the actual website, I’m also working on an illustration for an exhibition I might do in May with Montreal RAW Artists.

AR: What inspires while making your art or who is your inspiration?

EE: I get my inspiration from a lot of different places. But the person that inspires me is Niti Mueth, she is an illustrator, and the portraits that she does are of black people and it’s beautiful. When I found her work, it pushed me to make my own work

AR: What techniques did you learn here at Vanier that you apply to your work?

EE: I learned tone development in drawing 1, I make a lot of work in black and white and used to put no tones in between but after that class I realized that every tone in between is important, and I apply tone development to everything I work on.

AR: After your time at Vanier, what do you see yourself doing?

EE: I want to be either a freelance designer or work in a designing company.

AR: How does your cultural upbringing influence your work ethic /art?

EE: My parents are from St. Vincent and I was born here, I would like my work to have more meaning and importance to it, right now I’m just experimenting and learning but I want to dive into my culture and history and put that into my work.

AR: Would you like to shout out your favourite black artist here at Vanier?

EE: she’s a former student at Vanier, but her name is Priscilla Findlay, she’s an amazing singer and I’ve known her my whole life.

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(Elaine)

 

 

Next interview was with Tai Butler (@taibutlr) another multi-disciplinary artist and best person to talk about music with.

AR: Do you have any works on the way, or any recent finished works you want to talk about?

TB: I took a break from creating art but now I have some video ideas I’m getting started on and a painting I’m going to start working on soon.

AR: What inspires while making your art or who is your inspiration?

TB: I draw a lot of my inspiration from music, the weather is also a big inspiration to me, I work better on colder days, I feel more motivated.

AR: what techniques did you learn here at Vanier that you apply to your work?

TB: getting conformable with using colour, even in my clothing I wear colourful things. I’m coming to except it as a method of expression to my works.

AR: After your time at Vanier, what do you see yourself doing?

TB: right now, I do not know, I am still figuring things out. But I do know I want to end up helping out various communities, communities that need to have their voices heard in the media more often. Also, I would like to help children in war torn areas through art, to help them express themselves an have a voice through their art works. Ideally, I would like to go into cinematography and videography. Hopefully work for studio’s that has inspired me, like studio Ghibli.

AR: How does your cultural upbringing Influence your work ethic /art?

TB: Growing up, I moved a lot, so I have friends from many parts of the world. Thanks to that, I was able to learn about multiple cultural backgrounds besides my own, so it helps me on how I speak and write, I can step back and see things from different perspectives. That helps my work reach a wider audience and makes it accessible to people that need art that speaks to them.

AR: Would you like to shout out your favourite black artist here at Vanier?

TB: Yes, shout out to Gabby, Joe, Christina, Jeffrey, Melannie and Shadante who all inspired me to be confident and motivated me to be at my best, there’s also Elaine, all these people do so much for me and I want to tank you guys for pushing me to be at my best.

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(Tai)

 

 

The last artist I interviewed is Vishan Charamis (@514vshan) an amazing musician and the coolest person to talk to.

AR: Do you have any works on the way, or any recent finish works you want to talk about?

VC: I have a few songs out on my Spotify, Soundcloud, etc., but I have grown a lot as an artist and as a person in the last year, and I feel like they don’t reflect me anymore, so I’m not so proud of them. I am working on my first project though, set to release sometime around the end of the semester, and I’m really excited for that. It touches on social justice, mental health, identity, and is relevant for our times.

AR: What inspires while making your art or who is your inspiration?

VC: I’m inspired by my family, and all the hard work they put in to make sure I can grow up comfortable. I’m inspired by the MLK’s and the Marsha P Johnson’s of the world. I’m inspired mostly though, by my friends. I surround myself with such hardworking, talented, loving individuals and its great to have a community like that at your side.

AR: What techniques did you learn here at Vanier that you apply to your work?

VC: Vanier taught me everything I know about art to be honest. I can now read and understand it way better and vocalize my thoughts and feelings in a proper manner when looking at a piece, something I was not capable of that before coming here.

AR: After your time at Vanier, what do you see yourself doing?

VC: After Vanier I will be continuing rap, and pursuing a degree in Communications Studies and Human Rights Studies, in an effort to fully tie in my music, visual arts, and activism.

AR: How does your cultural upbringing influence your work ethic /art?

VC: It hugely influences my craft! I love rapping in ways that most people do not even think of and being from a mixed background really helps with that. Greek music is built in 7s and 11s, and so it helps me do jazz rap better than I would have had I not understood the flow patterns. Caribbean music is built in 6s, so that helps me trap and do interesting things. Not to mention that I now have a whole variety of sounds and instruments to choose from!

AR: Would you like to shout out your favourite black artist here at Vanier?

VC: I do not have one favorite, that is way to unfair of a question. I can’t put Basquiat or Kendrick on the same pedestal, it just does not make sense. Too many names. Too much greatness. At Vanier, I can narrow it down easy! Melannie Jonas and Jeffrey Asuming! Such passionate, caring, talented artists, and its been such a pleasure not only knowing them, but working with them too.

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(Vishan)

 

Written by: Ariel Ralph

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