CANVAS
March 27, 2015 Issue #2
March 27, 2015
Behold your canvas, paint with caution.
P editor
Patrick Kiel @patrickkiel
P head
writer Precious Kirby @preciouskirby
D curator
W
Danny Kataw @dannykataw website canvasmagazine.tk
T tumblr
tumblr
I instagram
C
contact info@canvasmagazine.tk
thanks for making this issue possible: Humza Deas, Ian Buosi, Sibel Doko, Michelle Lorduy, Joel Sheetz, Jackson Ross, Hazel Fernandez, Jazzlyn Ortega, Ariana Soriano
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Photo by Ian Buosi
By our founder Patrick Kiel. Check out his work at patrickkiel.tk
Writers Notes Hello Canvas Readers! This issue of Canvas features so many creative and unique young individuals. My partners and I worked very hard to make this issue possible, and we are proud to present lovely creatives from all different walks of life. All of the amazing and different art we are getting is absolutely amazing and we would love to receive a lot more! Thank you for the beautiful submissions and to all the participants who allowed us to explore their talent. I am so grateful for the opportunity to write articles for all of you. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to share.
- Precious Kirby, head writer
About Project Canvas
We are the kids our parents warned us about. We’re self-reliant, ambitious, and a whole new breed of doers. We are the generation of experiments, losses and tragedies. We live in a time where change is needed, and we are the change. We have too much ambition, too much pride, too many opinions. This magazine is for us to share our ideas and thoughts about what’s going on around is. Here at Canvas our mission is to bolster and intertwine knowledge and creativity into a single format that young adults will enjoy. This magazine is written by teens, for teens, and is free of adult suppression. This magazine is our place to vent, this is our canvas. Let’s paint it with stories of tragedy, triumph and happiness. Behold your canvas, paint with caution.
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Contents 06
Exploring Creativity
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Teens of Urban Exploring: New York City
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Highschool: The Trivial Years
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The Beauty of the Sky
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Artists to Watch: Passion Pit
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April ‘15 Playlist
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A 21st Century Creator: The Lewis Butler
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Young Adult Art: A Place for Your Art
EXPLORING CREATIVITY
by Precious Kirby
T
he whole idea behind Canvas Magazine is to explore the creativity of teenagers from around the world. Some people say “I’m not creative” or “I don’t have talent”. Those two statements could be nothing further from the truth. Everyone has some type of creativity or talent. There is something that makes you, well, you. The biggest obstacle we face in life is OURSELF: we are our own worst enemies. We judge ourselves more than anyone else, and put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to perform. I’ve personally been through this same dilemma, here are some steps you can take to doing what you love. The first step to finding your creativity is to figure out what you like to do. It doesn’t matter if you’re an expert at it or not, you can still enjoy doing it. Remember there is always room for practice and improvement, don’t doubt yourself. Even the best falter and continue to learn throughout their life. The second step is to have pride in what you’re doing. If you say “well this is ugly” or “this sucks”, then you’re creating a barricade that blocks improvement. Instead of saying it’s not good as a whole, think of the individual aspects of your work that you think are good. Spend more time on and improve your weak aspects and continue your good habits. Have a tangible goal in mind that you can keep working towards. This ensures that you stay on track and keep improving your craft.
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“I have creative control and my soul is mine. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.” ~ Ben Haggerty The third step is to not compare your work. DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF AT ALL. You are not them and they are not you. The way you do something cannot be perfectly replicated, what you do is unique to you. Have your own individual style, don’t depend on others too much. Of course you can admire and learn from their work, but don’t ever tell yourself you won’t be as good as someone else is. Chances are they were once you, doubting themselves, but they let their guard down and let the ideas flow. Just go with the flow; don’t try to rush everything. Earth wasn’t created overnight. To achieve greatness you must be patient. The final step to tapping into your creativity is to let your talent be known. Don’t hide what you do because you’re embarrassed of your work. Chances are someone will like what you’re doing or at least the effort you are putting
into what you’re doing. Show your friends something you’re working on, let them give you tips or advice. Constructive criticism is always a good thing when trying to improve your craft. Love what you do, take pride in it. Remember that even though people are doing what you’re doing, they are not you and how you do something is unique to you. Don’t lose sight of your goals, remember why you’re doing this and do not let appearances discourage you. Remember to walk by faith and not by sight. Keep exploring lovelies, never stop dreaming.
Story by Patrick Kiel. Photography by Ian Buosi
Urban Photography
New York City is the city that never sleeps. The photogenic city is filled with bustling life and tall skyscrapers that adorn the city. Naturally, this is an excellent playground for urban explorers as the constantly evolving city offers a multitude of mountains to climb. Through platforms like Vimeo and Instagram, urban exploring has captured the interest of a new wave of explorers, teenagers. These explorers try to capture their city through their lens and show the world the sights their city has to offer. We would like to introduce photographers Humza Deas and Ian Buosi. Humza is a 18 year old skateboarder turned photographer hailing from New York City, and Ian Buosi is a 16 year old relatively new photographer hailing from the other side of the river in New Jersey. Together, these two excellent photographers have shown the world NYC from never before seen vantage points. Be it the top of the Brooklyn Bridge looking over the city or on top of a building towering over Times Square, Deas and Buosi will get the photos everyone else could only imagine. “I was introduced to photography when I skated through the city, my videographer documented me skateboarding and would take images on his iPhone from areas we passed by that day and upload them to his Instagram. I always asked, ‘You took that with your iPhone?!’ He showed me how.” Since then Humza has photographed his city and has progressed from using his iphone to borrowing a friends camera to buying a camera of his own. These photos intermingle on his Instagram and Tumblr as they all share the same great artistic vision by balancing color, tone, and composition. Ian is similarly inspired by the skateboarding culture and has evolved to the street photography scene. Ian started taking photos to share with his family back in Brazil and immediately fell in love with photography. His godfather later taught Ian new techniques, and from here Ian embraced this new artform.
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Humza Deas describes himself as, “an individual who’s misunderstood.” Humza’s creativity derives from his skateboarding roots. “I’ve been skateboarding since I was 10 years old. As a skateboarder I was very creative at combining multiple tricks into one.” The whole skateboarding scene is based on creativity and many individuals have created clothing lines, movies, and companies from their skateboarding roots. Humza is no exception; Deas used his skateboarding knowledge to traverse NYC and capture the photogenic city. Humza also credits his creativity to his mother who, “was very creative as a kid and I can truly say it’s been passed on to her kids.” Looking at Humza and Ian’s Tumblr and Instagram page, you see a myriad of compositionally great photos combined with the great, urban colors of New York City. Although this work is categorized as street/urban photography, Humza, in particular, wishes to not be defined by any labels and his ultimate goal is to, “create a new genre of photography.” Ian hopes to, “work as a photographer for Net Geo and create an institution that helps poor teenagers get the chance to work with different types of art such as photography, designing, acting and drawing.” These photographers have goals that go well beyond their current Instagram fame. Humza Deas started urban exploring, “when some friends I knew did graffiti and they had just
Check Ian Buosi’s Work: Instagram Tumblr Buy His Work
Check Humza Deas’ Work: Instagram Tumblr Vimeo Buy His Work
told me they’ve got back from an old subway station and told me how to get into it.” Humza used this passion combined with his growing interest in photography to explore these underground caves and eventually explore bridges and buildings. Humza’s work naturally has mixed views. Some say he is a teenager with a death wish hanging from the side of bridges and the tops of some of the tallest buildings in New York City. They have even labeled him as an “Instagram Outlaw” in some top news websites. But Humza has goals and aspirations to become a better creator. Becoming a better creator requires reflection on one’s life and work. Humza has the excellent opportunity to both on top of the most meditative views in the world. “Some things that go on through my head is a surreal feeling, as if I’m lucky to be alive and able to see New York from this perspective.” He also utilizes the internet to observe other photographers. While many view the expanse of platforms like Instagram as a wave of inspiration, Humza also views these platforms as a problem. “The Internet has pushed me to be creative in a different way. Being a photographer and idolizing others makes you start to recreate their images and style of editing. I will admit I was once one of those who did just that. But as I became more aware of that problem I began to change that problem about myself. I’m now still inspired by the same artists but take a completely different approach on how they inspire me as an artist.” Now becoming a veteran of the Instagram and Tumblr scene, Humza and Ian have amassed quite a few stories. Humza had some difficulty choosing his favorite trip. “My favorite trip? So many to choose from... I would have to say when I met a friend who came into town for his first time and almost getting him run over by a train then almost getting him arrested. We shot from sunset to sunrise that night. It was definitely a start to a great friendship.” Deas also has future visions and hopes to explore LA, San Fran, Chicago, DC, Miami and then travel internationally to capture the rest of the world. Both Ian and Humza have quickly become great photographers and recognized for their talents. Already these teens have partnered up with brands to produce great content, and we are sure that there is much more in store for both of these artists. We hope you check out both of their work on Tumblr and Instagram and watch their videos to get a first person perspective of what it takes to get the photos they get.
Watch this movie about Instagram fuelling Urban Exploring which Ian Buosi was apart of.
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To Check out more of Ian’s work, we added some photos to the end of this issue..
HIGHSCHOOL:
THE TRIVIAL YEARS Story by Precious Kirby
H
igh school is going to go by quickly, it’s going to be the best four years of your life”. I can tell you from my personal experience that one of those statements is very true. High school does go by quickly, one minute you’re a freshman crying in the bathroom and the next you’re a junior filling out college applications. It all goes by so quickly, for some this is sad but for others this is hopeful. One thing that I can say about high school, is that it is the most confusing times of your life. There is no “how to” book about how to deal with high school, the most you can do is have faith in yourself. I wouldn’t say that high school has been the best few years of my life, but I will say I learned and continue to learn a lot about myself. The most relevant lesson you will learn in high school is that not everyone is going to like you and it’s okay. Huge surprise, I know. It’s not like middle school where everyone is going to like you because you have nice sneakers. I’ve learned that yes not everyone is going to like me, but as long as I like me then I’ll be just fine. Another aspect of high school that took me for a bumpy ride was all the rumours and petty drama. I used so much of my energy focusing on problems that I cannot recall right now, but my advice to you is to laugh it off, don’t invest so much of yourself into such menial issues. You’re going to be so focused on school that drama seems useless. Another issue you’re going to face are friends. You are going to meet many people your freshman year and by time senior year comes rushing in, you will not be friends with 90% of them. That is the truth, the very harsh reality of high school. But don’t frown lovely, those 10% of people left are going to be the friends you keep for a long time. When it comes to friends, remember this one quote “quality over quantity”. Plus, who needs a bunch of friends ? That’s way too many Christmas and birthday gifts to buy. Losing friendships is part of life, don’t be sad
There is more to life than 4 stressful years in this building.
if the person you knew since the 6th grade begins to change. The truth is, everyone changes. It is a natural phenomenon of life and there is nothing we can do to stop that. Here’s the kicker though, you are also going to change. It’s not going to be sudden, but it is going to happen. You and all your friends are going to grow up; you may grow together or grow apart. I remember when I first entered high school, I was completely obsessed with One Direction. Shocker ? Not so much. Anywho, I recently turned 17 and I woke up one morning and stared at those five boys, and realized I haven’t listened to them in a year. I hadn’t even noticed that I had lost my fangirl gene, but that’s what happens in high school. There is one quote that has single-handedly gotten me through the toughest situations in high school and I want every teenager to know it : “Things change and friends leave and life doesn’t stop for anybody”. There’s life after high school, don’t forget that.
High school does go by quickly, one minute you’re a freshman crying in the bathroom and the next you’re a junior filling out college applications.
The Beauty of the Sky Sibel Doko When my dear friend Precious asked me to write for her magazine, I was scattered and had no idea where to start. The only thing I could think of writing about is as simple as a thing I do every day; taking pictures of the sky. The sky is a fixation of colors and patterns people don’t seem to appreciate very much. Taking a minute every day just to look at the sky has made me not only happier but less stressed as well. Seeing how big the universe is and realizing there’s so much more than yourself is a feeling you can only get from experience. Explore. Look at the sky. Live.
ARTIST TO WATCH PASSION PITT Passion Pitt is a veteran electronic indie pop band whose third album comes out this month on April 21st. This band has had popular singles including ‘Take a Walk’, ‘Sleepyhead‘, and ’Carried Away’. Their new album, Kindred, should be just as, if not more, amazing as their previous albums. Passion Pitt mixes synth sounds with indie rock music to create fun, upbeat songs with beautiful lyrics. Take a listen to their current single, ‘1985‘ to get a feel for what the upcoming album is all about.
April ‘15 Playlist Spotify: canvasmagazine
1. Believe - Mumford & Sons 2. The Walker - Fitz and the Tantrums 3. Heartbeat - Satelite Stories 4. Gooey - Glass Animals 5. Gold - Imagine Dragons 6. What You Know - Two Door Cinema Club 7. King Kunta - Kendrick Lamar 8. ta fete - Stromae 9. Wasted - Tiesto, Matthew Koma 10. She Knows - J. Cole 11. Leaving Nara - Alt-J 12. Hey Mami - Sylvan Esso To listen to this playlist and the rest of the songs on this playlist, please check out this Spotify playlist.
21st CENTURY CREATORS: THE LEWIS BUTLER
The Lewis Butler is compromised of two teen painters from Paterson, New Jersey, Hazel and Jazzlyn. These two artists inspire each other to become better artists and love collaborating with each other. To find out more about Hazel and Jazzlyn, watch their interview on youtube.
Hazel Fernandez is a natural-born artist from New Jersey. Her desire to positively affect others in any way has lived on in her since she was a child. To attain this, she began putting herself out there at a young age, through platforms such as blogs, videos, and social media. She never really thought of herself as an actual artist until recently, when her teachers and peers helped her realize that she is. Jazzlyn serves as one of her biggest motivations. Hazel indulges herself in music and books to get through the day. She experiments with as much as she can; art, film, photography, and instruments. She’s extremely passionate about music. In the future, she hopes to combine music and visual arts in a new way.
Born as Jazzlyn Ortega on May 20th, 1998 in Paterson, New Jersey. Her older sister amazed Jazzlyn with her urban art and inspired Jazzlyn to be an artist. As a child Jazzlyn knew she wanted to be an artist but knew how tough that lifestyle would be so, she decided to keep her mind open for other things. Over the years her passion for art grew and surpassed the ability of her sister and turned to new inspiration, Hazel Fernandez. Jazzlyn never found anything that interested her as much as art did so, she decided not to settle into something she wasn’t 100 percent passionate for. Together, Jazzlyn and Hazel, experimented with many forms of art throughout the years. In the winter of 2014, a small project had turned into something bigger.
Teen Art: A Place For Your Art Canvas Magazine would love to showcase our readers work. Within the next couple of pages are various pieces of art work that were made by teenagers. If you would like your work featured within these pages, please contact us here.
Jackson Ross - photographer and explorer
Jackson Ross is a 17 year old photographer from Birming-
ham, Alabama. He started photography when he was eleven, One day Jackson just, “picked up a camera one day and went to the zoo. Immediately, I fell in love with photography.” Jackson draws inspiration from his friends, family, and through other creators on social media. Besides photography, Jackson is interested in space and the outdoors and draws inspiration and loves to photograph these interests. Above all, Jackson hopes to be a travel photographer to travel the world and capture its beauty. Here is a collection of Jackson’s work, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Photos by Jackson Ross To see more of his work, check out his Instagram account: http://www.instagram.com/safewaters
Joel Sheetz - artist
Joel Sheetz is a 17 year old hobbyist artist and photographer located in a lovely city by the name of Birmingham, Alabama. Joel loves to draw, paint, take photos, and hand make various dry goods such as clothing accessories and room accents. Joel hope to soon make a business selling things I make. You can check out Joel’s work out on his Instagram feed and the next couple of pages: https://instagram.com/joelsheetz/
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Drawing by Ariana Soriano
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“Contemplation Above the City� by Michelle Lorduy. Pencil and Pastel
Nathan O’Nions Nathan O’Nions is a young photographer who is the photographer of the cover of this issue of Canvas. We are going to let Nathan’s work speak for itself.
You can check more of Ian’s work out on his Instagram and Flickr account.
Instagram: @nathanoliver94
Flickr
Ian Buosi Photography
Canvas Magazine February 21, 2015 Issue#1
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