Category: arts

By Cailyn Domecq

At first glance, her electric-blue hair nods to the fact that she might be an artist — the color resembling a brighter version of a paint she uses as a base in some of her paintings. She has the air of a childhood friend regardless of how long you have known her, and a kind-hearted nature that draws people in.

“I don’t know what other path of life I could have taken, honestly. I definitely think it was meant to be,” she said.

At 22 years old, student painter Emma Rose Hoffmann has a thread of evolution in her life. It shows in the form of art among different mediums, growth in self-confidence, developing relationships both personally and with strangers, and working to advance body positivity.

Where it all started

Her urge to paint began around a decade ago from what started out as a series of obligatory visits to an art studio.

When she was 12 years old, Emma began seeing a therapist to help guide her through the emotional stress of her parent’s divorce. The therapist suggested taking art classes at a studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, and this is when she first got introduced to working with oil paintings.

She always had an artistic side and was known for absentmindedly doodling anime characters in her notebook, but she began to take her time with art more seriously once the classes began.

As is characteristic of the typical preteen, she described herself as being insecure and constantly comparing her work to others when she first started painting. Because of this, her love evolved over time.

This is where Kate comes in.

Lessons through art

She still works with the same teacher she had in these beginning years, the one who first taught her to paint. A continuing theme of evolution applies to their relationship as Kate has watched Emma go from a beginning artist to a well-seasoned young adult who expresses their individuality through brush strokes.

Speaking of brushes, her paintbrushes are well-loved.

She still has her very first set of brushes stowed away in her collection, for sentimental purposes more than anything, covered with splotches of oil paint from past projects.

When she’s in the studio, or “art corner” in her apartment, you can find her sitting cross-legged in a chair in front of the canvas, oftentimes with a cat in her lap and paintbrush flipped bristle-end up in the side of her mouth.

During the pandemic, she collaborated with her two live-in artists, Adobe and Mida.

“My cats would get paint on their paws and I would find little paw prints,” she said as she laughed. “I left them for way longer than I should have.”

While painting, a track from psychedelic rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, or an episode of a true crime podcast often plays in the background.

Her most recent work-in-progress for school is a collection about body positivity. It’s a necessity for a senior thesis class, but has grown to become much more than that. It’s a passion project.

The student has to choose their focus — she began by painting still life images. It felt more like an assignment than a passion project, and it showed. After a rough critique from one professor with an insolent tone, she knew something had to change.

A short conversation with Kate, the mentor and friend who has been there all along, helped her come to the conclusion this subject was not the one for her.

I had this really terrible critique this morning, like I don’t know what to do about it…

Rethinking things

Portraiture and figure painting have always been her strong suits, so Emma reassessed and came up with a plan that highlighted both.

The idea was to ask potential participants to submit a photo of themselves wearing minimal clothing that features their body insecurity, then write a short statement on what they have done to combat it.

The hashtag, #everybodyisagoodbody, is at the end of each social media post that highlights the project; a simple yet powerful and formative concept for both the artist and their subject.

One day Emma received a Facebook message that changed her perspective on the idea. A participant asked about the progress of her painting, and she sent a photo of the work that elicited an emotional reaction.

“I was painting this image of her that she felt really insecure about and very vulnerable in — she said that helped her see herself in a more beautiful light,” Emma said. “That’s just something that I didn’t think about when I had started the project, but it was very touching to read her message.

Emma has experience with body dysmorphia, which drives her to acknowledge body insecurities and promote body positivity.

Her roommate, Bex, spoke to her strength.

“She’s really fought for these things that she creates and the way she sees herself,” Bex said.

One of Emma’s pieces features a woman holding the middle of her stomach with subtle tones of earthy yellows, greens, and browns with fuchsia undertones. She is working on her sixth painting of the project, and plans to have 10 in total.

“Seeing a difference between the pieces she’s doing now versus what she was doing before when she was clearly unhappy with her concept, it’s so mind-blowing because these pieces are just so phenomenal,” her girlfriend Rowan said.

Emma explained how she struggles with ADHD and often finds motivating herself difficult, but with this project, ideas for painting are always on the brain.

“If anything I’m having trouble motivating myself to do anything else,” Emma said. “I feel like when I’m painting, it’s the one moment where I don’t feel like my brain is at 100 miles per hour.”

Emma will put on a green cap and gown at the end of the year to graduate with a degree in studio art, specifically painting, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  She is to begin a full-time position working with children at the art studio where she is currently an instructor and mentor.

Bright in the way that she lights up a room, strong through the way she fights for the things she believes in, and empathetic by the way she cares for others, Emma’s growth is apparent. Promoting comfort in her body and encouraging others to do the same is an art form that will never cease to evolve.

Edited by Eva Hagan and Em Welsh

By Sarah Gray Barr

Butterfly bush, summer lilac and orange eye. All names for the same plant which graces the silver pot on Charlotte Smith’s porch. Smith knows it best as butterfly bush, and the purple and red blossoms dye cut up strips of The New Yorker the palest shade of yellow.

Being a Helping Hand

Smith has not always had time to dedicate to her craft. In 2016, she left her job of nearly three decades. Smith found herself in the same position that people who left or lost their jobs in the pandemic face now: trying to find fulfillment when the previous way of life is gone.

Smith worked at Ipas, a nonprofit headquartered in Chapel Hill, which aims to protect women’s reproductive rights globally. Smith served as a program officer and traveled to more than 60 countries. During her travels, she developed a career-long habit of purchasing materials native to the country in which she was advocating. In Ghana and Nigeria, Smith picked up wax prints and batiks–textiles unique to the region. Materials such as these now find their way into her art.

The work at Ipas was not dull by any means. Smith has hiked through Northern Ethiopia and attended conferences in Kenya. She also recalled being one of the first Americans in Romania after the overthrow of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989. Behind the former Iron Curtain, women’s rights were restricted. During her stay, Smith witnessed the new legalization of abortion.

Smith is a firecracker. At least, that’s how her friends describe her.

Katie Early met Smith in 1987. Early served as the executive director at Ipas and hired new administrators. She remembers first meeting Smith at that hiring interview. There were two candidates: Smith, and someone better qualified on paper for the job. Smith impressed Early with her dry humor and wit. Early recalled the interview fondly.

“We have a joke talent show at our staff retreat every year, do you have any good jokes?” Early asked.

“Oh, I have a joke, but if you want to hear it, you’ll need to hire me first,” Smith said.

Merrill Wolf, a colleague of Smith’s, agrees. Smith brought a spirit of fun to the Carrboro office. Wolf remembers creating the Ipas board game. Wolf and Smith used papier-mâché to build the board and the playable pieces. The game mixed Monopoly and Candyland together and contained a deck of memorable Ipas-related cards.

“‘The project organizer in a country steals three thousand dollars to build a pool, go back two spaces,’ is one card that I can recall,” said Wolf.

The Ipas office is now located in Southern Village, and the previous building became Gourmet Kingdom, a Chinese restaurant serving Szechuan specialties. But when Smith, Wolf  and Early worked there, art from their travels covered the walls to the point where nobody remembers the paint color underneath.

Moving On

When Smith left Ipas in December of 2016, she needed to find something to do with her time. She began crafting. For the next two years, she experimented. She stayed curious. She found a mould and deckle in her house, purchased from her college days, and tried her hand at making paper. She tested concoction after concoction, added flowers and seeds to paper slurries and searched for the perfect water-to-The New Yorker ratio.

Smith tried to find what sparked her interest.

She joined The 100 Day Project, a worldwide art project that builds creative confidence. She tried making something for 100 days in a row in 2018. She fashioned handmade envelopes, tree hangers, cloth bags and fabric puzzles. The next time Smith participated in 2020, she practiced photography, taking snapshots of nature’s insects and flowers. Smith began her most ambitious attempt at the project in 2021–she created 100 replicas of art by women or art depicting women. Smith stitched fabric onto old postcards and backed the pieces with upholstery samples. The collection includes fabric recreations from Billie Zangewa, Elizabeth Catlett and Roz Chast.

During this period, Smith developed a penchant for handmade paper adorned with sewn fabric designs. Art she could create in a day.

The table she presses her paper on is wrought iron, weathered by the sun and stained with the pulp of past projects. Her yard is something out of “The Secret Garden,” with flowers and vines covering as far as the eye can see. It is here that Smith begins the artistic process.

She experiments with different flora and vegetation to create natural dyes for her work. Today, that pot on her porch holds butterfly bush. Weeks ago, the pot held onion skins, creating a dark yellow dye. Before that, red cabbage dyed newspaper strips a deep purple, a mix between periwinkle and plum.

Smith blends the dyed paper shreds, pours the mixture onto a mould and deckle, and adheres the pressed liquid to large cotton squares. The handmade paper dries under Carolina skies before Smith peels it off to use in her next project.

The stacks of fabrics in Smith’s sewing room stretch to the ceiling. Bins sit next to her Viking sewing machine that boast polka dots, pinstripes, and paisleys. Boxes hold herringbones, harlequins, and houndsteeth. The sewing room is her oyster, and the dozens upon dozens of fabrics are her pearls.

Making the Meaning

Smith is quick and decisive. She knows what she wants to make. It may be a trial-and-error process, and it may take a few tries, but she envisions what the design should be and creates it.

She considers herself more of a craftsperson than an artist, affectionately dubbed a “gluepotter” by her older sister for her projects and creations decades in the making. Growing up and continuing into adulthood, Smith would choose to stay home and “gluepot” rather than go out. Smith battled boredom by crafting day and night with nothing but a trusty pot of glue by her side.

“It’s a family joke now, that we’re glued to our chair. We made it into a verb. What are you going to gluepot this time, you know?” Smith said.

“Gluepotting” aside, Smith is a jack of all trades, skilled in design, photography and fabric. An artist in every sense of the word. But what makes her work unique is its components: recycled papers and fabrics scraps. Smith breathes new life into them, bringing purpose and meaning to materials that others might throw away.

“I don’t envision myself becoming a famous artist, nor do I particularly want to,” said Smith. “I don’t need to accomplish anything. I feel like I’ve done enough interesting things in my life that I will keep exploring and having fun and try new things.”

To Smith, opportunity is everywhere and fulfillment is at her fingertips. Meaning can be found in things often overlooked.

Edited by Em Welsh

By Jessica Abel

In a small, low-lit classroom at UNC-Chapel Hill late on a Monday night, a group of women are gathered in a circle of desks, typing fiercely. Each one is focused on the script in front of her, not thinking, just writing.

They are here for a comedy workshop hosted by We the Ladies, a student comedy group devoted to increasing gender diversity in comedic writing and performing. The project is led in part by Shea Stanley, who began her college comedy career her first year on campus with the group False Profits.

Now a junior, Stanley splits her time writing for False Profits and guiding both amateur and established comedians with We the Ladies.

Tonight, she’s helping writers create colorful character scenes through a free writing exercise. The click-clacking of fingernails on keyboards carries down the hall as everyone spills their last ideas onto their pages.

“OK, that’s time,” Stanley says.

She looks up and surveys the room.

“Who wants to go first?”

There’s a moment of hesitation as the writers make eye contact and smirk at one another, holding back their thoughts.

And then, shyly, someone gives it a try.

“Angry astronaut at a strip mall.”

The room fills with giggles. Then come thoughts of how to make a full scene out of a bitter Buzz Aldrin type. It would have to take place in Florida, the writers agree. The only place where astronauts, strip malls and anger overlap is Florida.

This continues with dozens of ideas.

“Goofy dentist on a rooftop.”

“Bored zookeeper in Sacramento.”

“Envious therapist at a church.”

Stanley leads the group through their thoughts, crafting dialogue and scene ideas to help make art out of the creative skeletons. She offers advice, patience and laughs as the women collaborate into the night.

Finding her comedic footing

Before Stanley founded We the Ladies or began college comedy, the Charleston, South Carolina native first tried stand-up in a smaller venue. It was at her high school’s version of a talent show, a coffee house-style setup where students could jump on stage and try out new material.

Stanley chose to mock her childhood YouTube channel by flipping through a PowerPoint of her hairstyles in the videos.

“My hair was just really bad in it,” Stanley said. “Everyone was shocked. They were like, ‘Where’s your part? What’s happening?’”

She walked offstage to laughs feeling good about her performance.

What she didn’t realize was that she’d taken nearly half an hour to finish the joke.

“My teacher came up to me and said, ‘That was great. You were up there for twenty minutes,’” Stanley said.

Now, her comedy takes a much different approach. She’ll sit down with an idea, almost always the end of a joke, and work through the script backwards. She’ll write 30 percent of a scene, leave it, and then come back with an entirely new idea. She’ll stop what she’s doing to help another writer complete her vision before returning to her own work, re-inspired.

Stanley and Ellie Rodriguez, We the Ladies’ other co-founder, hold office hours at Linda’s bar on Franklin Street. The formal name is contrasted by the relaxed way Stanley treats writing. She’ll scope out a booth, order some fully-loaded Tater Tots and sit with whoever shows up to write and exchange ideas.

“It’s a good environment to pitch ideas, especially ideas that aren’t necessarily super funny to men,” Stanley said. “False Profits is pretty collaborative, and I love all my male friends in that, but there are some things that go over better in an all-femme group.”

Mary Amos, the comedian who pitched the angry Floridian astronaut sketch in Stanley’s workshop, agreed.

“I just haven’t been in a lot of groups that are all-femme. Other than, maybe, my household,” Amos said, laughing. “I think that’s why this is so nice.”

Funny off the clock, too

Though Stanley doesn’t use her housemates as a tester audience often, her friends got to know her comedy style quickly.

Katie Otto, who shared a suite in Koury residence hall with Stanley her first year, remembers meeting her future friend for the first time.

“It was funny from the beginning because Shea was under the impression that she had met me already, but she’d really met someone else who she thought was me,” Otto said. “She was so confused. She was like, ‘Who’s this stranger in my suite?’”

To this day, they have no idea who the impostor girl could have been, or if Stanley simply forgot what Otto looked like.

“Maybe she met my mom and thought it was me? I don’t know,” Otto said, smiling. “It’s our mystery.”

Otto was also there when Stanley first discovered False Profits. They went to a stand-up comedy workshop hosted by the group during the first week of school.

“We played improv games and just chatted,” Otto said. “And even from that, I could tell Shea had such a strong ability to create comedic timing and make others laugh.”

Stanley carried that lightheartedness back to the suite where she made their home a bit of a fun house.

On the windowsill of their bathroom, she kept a copy of the Communist Manifesto for decorative purposes. She referred to the suite as “The Commune” and to all her housemates as “Comrades.”

She kept a fish as the suite pet and mascot and named it “Fishgerald.” Once, over break, she forgot to bring Fishgerald home and panic-texted Otto and her housemates to be sure he was still swimming.

Before Stanley left to study in London last semester, she gave her housemate and best friend, Mary Beth, a semester survival guide as a Christmas present. It included Stanley’s best decision-making advice and tips to living without her comedian roommate.

Safe to say, her friends and fellow comedians are happy to have her back.

Punchlines with real impact

As Stanley gets ready for senior year, her priorities are to make We the Ladies as diverse as possible, and to raise more money for local charities. She chooses a different organization to benefit from every show. Last time she collected toiletries and money for the Compass Center, a non-profit committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse. This year, she’s hoping to collect diapers and funds for a rehabilitation center in the Triangle.

The combination of charity, diversity and comedy has resonated with the Chapel Hill community. For her last show, over 100 people came to support Stanley, We the Ladies and the Compass Center.

“The day of anything I’m hosting, I always think, ‘Well, no one’s coming. I’m going to show up, and it’s going to be pathetic,’” Stanley said. “But people started showing up early. They packed the place. It was amazing.”

This, no doubt, had to do with the great cause Stanley was supporting. But it was driven by the impact she’s personally had on the Chapel Hill community. People are captivated by her self-described loud laugh, her thoughtfulness, her ambition. It’s the key to We the Ladies’ success and her legacy at Carolina.

“Shea is so funny and has so much confidence,” Otto said. “She is great at making people smile. I’m so glad I got to live with her and get to know her.”

Edited by Lily Stephens