#girlswithgoals: Casia Joy Yonts
9:30 AM
Casia Joy Yonts
1. Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a 24year old artist & business owner and am so unfiltered in my expressiveness of what I am feeling and thinking in a given moment, that I often shock myself anytime I catch a glimpse of myself in reflections or pictures. I’m delighted with the way people from all cultures choose to express themselves creatively. I’ve traveled a little over the years to Thailand, Germany, Holland, England, France, French Polynesia and now to Norway. I’ve been a barista, an expediter, worship leader, singer, artist, & business owner as far as titles go… and have loved the people and the process all along the way. I come from a family of 5 kids, all creative in countless ways who grew up homeschooled in a small coastal town on the North coast of California. My name means Everlasting Life and Joy, and I am all about people discovering ways to step into doing what they love with this life they’ve been given.
2. What did you major in & where.
I majored in Fine Arts at a community college called Skyline in the Bay Area.
3. How long were you painting for?
I have been drawing since as long as I can remember, but I took my first impressionistic, landscape, oil painting class at a little gallery when I was about 13 or 14, and I’ve been painting ever since then.
4. What are one of the main things that inspire you to paint?
This is a kind of tricky one to answer for me, I could easily pick inspiring objects or things that are inspiring to me, yet it’s not necessarily an object that is the source of inspiration for me, but merely the objects that get caught in the way of my inspiration. The SOURCE of my inspiration has more to do with my moments spent with God. The place I started creating from when I was little was out of my conversations with God. Every time I create it feels like a response to the awe I feel for God and his creation. Painting has become one of the primary ways that I process and communicate what I am feeling… and has sweetly become the place I go to process and converse with God. I am always trying to capture this process when I paint, so I would say one of the main things that inspires me to paint is getting to go process through anything and everything with God…. if that makes sense? ;}
5. What are your favorite types of paints to paint with and why?
My first love is oils… for the texture that can be achieved, the richness of colors, and the way things can be mixed wet on wet because of the long drying time. When I went to France for 6 months I couldn’t bring my oil paints which was nearly unbearable, so I tried to recreate the same things I loved about oils by mixing the watercolors and acrylics I had brought with me. As a result of that time I grew a love and a skill for mixing Watercolors & Acrylics that soon grew to mixed media paintings with Watercolors, Acrylic, Gauche, Ink, & Coffee. I love the way each of these mediums respond to each other especially when the coffee dries with granulated darker edges…& I primarily lean towards using gold acrylic, & white ink as well. While my Watercolor paintings were influenced by the way I could layer with oils, my oil paintings quickly became influenced by the way my watercolors could bleed across the canvas…. I found a crossover in the way I use both mediums and now have an equal love for both for their differences in what I can do with them.
6. You recently had an art show, was that your first one ever? How did it go?
My latest art show was maybe my 11th showing (if not more) most of which have been solo exhibitions that I’ve completely orchestrated. Leading up to my latest Art show, my bank account balance was at zero with nearly a month leading up to leaving for Norway and no money to purchase a ticket, pay for the program, pay for rent or food and on top of that I owed sales tax. So the show was largely to raise money for those things. As a direct result of the money made from the show I was able to pay sales tax, buy my ticket, pay for half the program and have the first three months of rent and food. Also as a result of the show I had about 35 commissions to finish before the end of the month. I think the show went really well…. :}
7. You are heading to Norway to paint with many different artists, what are you most excited for that trip?
Honestly the whole point of the trip for me, though it has tons of amazing perks, is to have a set aside time away from the demands and responsibilities of life and relationship to spend time with God painting, growing and developing…. There are SO many amazing things that I will be able to experience like sitting in on classes at an academy in Florence, going to an international artist gathering in Rome, working towards goals with likeminded artists, having an international community, learning Norwegian, living above a coffee shop with a view of the sea, studio space…. and SO much more…. but I am simply most excited for a whole chunk of 9 months that is set aside for me to paint for me, not for commissions or work or business… but for me. :}
8. Being that you accomplished so much already, do you have any future goals in mind?
Oh Absolutely!!! The dreams never go away, never get smaller and only get bigger! As a planner, I’ve developed a skill of focusing my time, energy & effort in very pointed & purposeful ways for different seasons of my life. One big dream of mine is to facilitate many different ways for Creatives to have a platform where they can impact the communities around them with their creativity {whatever form} and invite the community to be a part of it as well. I long to have a three story coffee shop with a 24/7 open studio {dance, painting, photography ect} community garden, apartments, bakery… and SO much more where it facilitates freedom in creative expression and creates a space for community to gather and cultivate family. I also would love to have it be a rehabilitation home for individuals who have survived human sex trafficking. This dream is very detailed and only one of the many ones I have, but most of my goals and dreams are all in line with bringing freedom to people through the arts.
9. What is a quote that you live by?
There are two that go hand in hand for me:
“There is nothing more artistic than to love others” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
“To love at all is to be vulnerable” ~ C.S.Lewis
Thank you Casia for taking the time to answer these, all answers were quite inspiring ones and I can't wait for your future goals to grow!
This is just a taste of what she is all about, if you would like to see more (and I know you do!) check out Casia's sites here:
Facebook Page: Casia Joy Art
Thank you for checking out this week's #girlswithgoals, stay tuned for more!
Previous #girlswithgoals
Best,
0 comments