Artist of the Week: Lily Murray

Where do you find your inspiration?

All over the place. I get inspiration from past projects the most, like I get inspiration for the next while I’m working on the current one which is kind of cool so it’s like a constant cycle. They’re all related in some sort.

Do you try any other styles of art?

I have some photography that I’ve done in visual arts and obviously jewelry, and drawing and digital work — all of the above.

What is your favorite style of art to do?

Probably digital, like adobe stuff.

What’s your favorite piece so far?

Yeah I do, I made a visual representation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons music composition piece, so like each season has its own print and each note got a color and it makes a geometric thing so it made it this cool pattern. I did it on Adobe Illustrator.

What do you need to make jewelry?

I had to buy silver, and we have sterling silver at school and then I have hammering tools that I use from the jewelry room and a polish wheel that I don’t have at home, obviously, and drill presses and all of those things.

Do you make jewelry at school or at home?

I have stayed after school and I use all of my seminars that I can get, and I have an art class seventh hour which is IB so I skip that class and go to jewelry instead. It’s IB visual arts. That class is like an independent study kind of and so I get to do whatever art I want, really, and make it into a project. So the jewelry was a project for that also.

Do you take art here at East?

I’m not currently but I’ve taken jewelry one and advanced.

What got you into making jewelry?

I started with making cookies actually and then I started doing jewelry as well because I knew how to do it and I have the resources and I needed to make the money.

What got you to start selling your work?

I’m fundraising to go on a trip, so the goal was to make the jewelry to sell it and I needed some way to make the money and I knew how to make the jewelry so it was perfect.

What’s the trip for?

The trip’s for the Azores Islands in Portugal with Mrs. Hensley. It’s not with a class but she asked us kids if we wanted to go. It’s with a travel agency kind of thing and we’re going to go exploring the islands and stuff and lots of art related things, I’m not really sure yet.

Have you raised the money yet?

I’m almost there. I’ve been doing it about a month and a half and I’m over about half way there.

Do you like to share your art with lots of people or keep it to yourself?

I like sharing it, and I have an Instagram for just my art which is a great platform, so I like sharing it and getting feedback from it.

Do you do more art in or out of school?

It’s kind of a fifty-fifty because I can take it home and work on it but I have to have the jewelry room for most of it.

When did you get into art?

I’ve always been drawn to it and I started taking classes in middle school and then was able to take advanced classes in high school, so it’s always been there.

Where there any things you struggled with when first starting your art?

I can’t draw, so it’s kind of difficult, but just continuing to work on it and continuing to work on things that are difficult makes it easier.

Do you plan on pursuing this as a career or more of a hobby?

I’m applying for colleges right now and I’m applying for architecture schools. I got into KU and K-State already, and there are three or four more that I haven’t gotten into yet.

What do you do with the jewelry you make usually?

I wear a lot of  it because there’s so much of it at my house but a lot of it has been sold already or is being sold. I have a website.