Spot On: Creative Corner

Stephanie Untz
Senior, Lewisville, Texas
Studio Art / Painting major
Involvement: Habit for Humanity, Church Under the Bridge

Artists just need to create something, Stephanie Untz says. "It's an unexplainable thing. It's that moment when you're making something that's like nothing other."
Untz first discovered her passion as a small child in elementary school, "My mom taught me art and music and I was better at art, so I just went with it." 
Untz plans to apply to graduate school on the East Coast after finishing here. "The ultimate goal is to make it as an artist, but being a college professor has its perks," she says. She also has applied to the Teach For America program, in which she would work with inner-city kids for a year.
Untz focuses on realism in her paintings by depicting things the way they really are. For example, she paints people interacting with each on a park bench or around a campfire. 
Untz is involved with Church Under the Bridge, which invites the homeless and socially outcast to meet underneath the Interstate-35 bridge to worship. 
 

Daniel Butler
Junior, Corpus Christi, Texas
Studio Art major

Daniel Butler credits his family for his interest in sculpture and ceramics. "Art has been in the back of my mind for most of my life," Butler explains. "I have the type of parents that were like, 'Do whatever you want. As long as you're happy, we don't care.' "
Butler comes from a family of artists. His aunts teach art and music and his grandmother works with pottery and porcelain. 
At one time, Butler planned to attend Cornell University to study animal sciences. But at the end of his senior year he decided to pursue art.
"You realize you're an artist when you can look at everyday life and turn it into some art form," Butler says. "It changes who you are and you strive to almost mimic what you're seeing." Sculpture is Butler's passion, but he has a background in ceramics, which he hopes to combine with other media he uses. He has also worked with wood and steel and plans to incorporate these into his designs.
Butler wants to go east for graduate school. After that he plans to travel to Scotland or Ireland to teach art while continuing to make his own. 
 

Joanna Jamieson 
Senior, Boxford, Mass.
Studio Art major
Involvement: Kappa Alpha Theta, Baylor Water Ski team

Joanna Jamieson uses an array of specialties in art to accomplish one goal - graphic design. This is a broad and rapidly growing field in which the computer meets the artist. Jamieson says what she likes most about art is "the ability to express an idea without the use of words."
Jamieson uses oil painting, photography, fibers, sewing and weaving along with her computer skills to design T-shirts and logos. Fiber art takes a combination of various materials to create fabrics. Fiber artists often dye their own fabric, and Jamieson uses her sewing skills to incorporate designs into the fabrics. "It is interesting to me because it is prehistoric and has been a traditional art form in many cultures," Jamieson explains. "I like fibers because it is a unique alternative to painting and drawing."
She uses her skills at a local T-shirt shop and designs logos for organizations around Waco. She hopes to use her graphic design background to eventually work as a freelance or in-house designer for a company.

Payton Davis
Senior, Bryan, Texas
Studio Art major
Involvement: Kappa Sigma

Payton Davis's interest in painting was sparked in a high school art class in which he created extra paintings on the side because he enjoyed it so much. He wasn't aware then that a career in art was possible. After taking an art history course as an elective at Baylor, he decided to change his major to studio art. He had already completed a year as a pre-dental student. 
Davis enjoys painting because "you can fool the eye into thinking it is looking into an entirely different world, when in reality it is only a flat piece of canvas." He says that art gives you the ability to express ideas that you can't really express through words. "I'm not a very good speaker so I guess I get my feelings out like that," he says. 
In January, Davis plans to attend The Art Institute of Dallas where he will be specializing in graphic design. He wants to integrate his art into advertising and perhaps design corporate logos.