ARTS
September Artist of the Month: Anne Flynn
Introspective. Dedicated. Bubbly. Three words senior Alyssa Knudsen uses to describe friend and fellow artist, senior Anne Flynn.
Flynn began drawing at age ten.
“You know that imitator anime style that every kid starts out with?” Flynn said. “I never watched anime or manga, but I would try and copy that because I [thought], ‘That looks cool.’”
Realizing her innate talent for drawing and impeccable perceptive abilities, Flynn auditioned to be a part of the Art I Class with former Jesuit Art teacher Gail Fleenor. The advice she was given? Draw more.
And that’s exactly what she did. Flynn says she has at least three sketchbooks at any one time which she keeps in her backpack to pull out whenever the mood strikes.
“Her sketchbook is full of these delicious morsels. It’s almost like she’s sharing a little blessing when she shows you her sketchbook,” Art teacher Sascha Manning said.
“[Flynn] inspires me through her daily sketchbooks to work on my own art a little bit each day.”
At present, Flynn is especially interested in cloud formations, and her face lights up whenever the topic is mentioned.
“It’s just so interesting. I drive at [6am, 7am] in the morning, and I [thought], ‘Oh, the sky is blue, but it’s not—it’s green and yellow and orange and purple’, and the color catches on the edges of the clouds and makes these highlights that are colors you don’t think you’d see in nature,” Flynn said.
Flynn’s art is clearly a highlight of her day, and anyone who knows Flynn can attest to the happiness art brings her.
“She lives and breathes art,” Manning and Knudsen said.
Flynn admits, though, that she didn’t really think of art as a serious career until her junior year.
“I used to [think] “Ugh, starving artist! You can’t do something with that!” But last year, I [thought], “Wait, you can!” Flynn said.
Flynn is now applying to colleges, where she plans to study art.
“Anne is always challenging herself,” Knudsen said. “We went to Last Thursday on Albertal, and I gave Anne a ride. After the night, we were walking back to my car, and we encountered a woman who was drawing with her feet! Anne was utterly fascinated. A week later, [Anne] plops these drawings in front of me and she [said] “Look, I drew these with my feet!”
