Today we’d like to introduce you to Sprout Chinn.
Sprout, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I originally moved from Oregon to Southern California for college and to expand my career in modeling. Halfway through my freshman year of college, I started to have seizures. It took months for doctors to even diagnose the problem, but even then, they didn’t have a solution. For nearly two years now I have been living with a seizure disorder that cannot be treated with medication. I normally have seizures once a day or sometimes every other day.
Due to my illness, I have had to switch to online classes, stop driving, stop taking modeling jobs and scale back on many of the activities I enjoy. Since I was unable to leave the house very often, I started to paint. Painting was an outlet for me to express my feelings or to just relax and focus on creating. Most recently I have been focused on paint pours and resin art. Both of those forms of art bring me a lot of peace. No matter how ugly my day was or how defeated I feel from my disease, I can sit down and create something beautiful. That brings me strength and hope. Painting has also given me a voice to speak out about some of the traumas I have endured.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Most commonly, I do acrylic paint pours with acrylic paint, flotrol and silicone on canvas or wood. The pieces that mean the most to me have been pieces that shed light on issues I have faced in my life. As a sexual assault survivor, I struggled a lot during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and confirmation. I felt very isolated and re-traumatized. Instead of doing my normal paint pours, I decided to use a stencil of a facial profile. The woman was facing darkness but a beautiful galaxy of colors and cells took up her face and hair.
Above her mouth, in the darkness, I simply wrote: “believe me.” This piece is definitely one of my favorites because I created it purely for myself. The fact that others related to it made it incredibly special and helped me to feel much less alone in my own healing process. Not all of my work has an intense message. I have many pieces that are themed paint pours without a message. My art started as a coping mechanism and has always been a means for me to deal with my own disease and my own pain, however, being able to create things that others have a reaction to or feel connected to is truly amazing.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
The artists that tackle important issues are the artists that inspire me the most. This moves far beyond painting to storytelling, music, film, etc. My art is based largely on the experiences I have gone through and the struggles I have faced. Artists who share their stories or elevate the voices of those not often heard inspire me very much. Everyone’s life is somehow touched and impacted by art. Films, paintings, music, storytelling, dance, etc. all have the ability to open minds and change perceptions. My two favorite painters right now are Joseph Lee and Genesis Tramaine. Ava DuVernay is currently my favorite director. She has an incredibly unique talent and her commitment to sharing the stories that have often been ignored is incredibly inspirational.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I post most of my pieces on my Instagram page @sproutsart. Almost everything I post is available to purchase. I also do custom pieces! Anyone interested in learning more about how to order pieces or commissioning a custom piece can either go to my Instagram page or email me at sprout.chinn@gmail.com!
Contact Info:
- Email: sprout.chinn@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sproutsart/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sproutchinn?lang=en
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/sprout_chinn/?hl=en
Image Credit:
Portrait of me photo by Mason Tompkins
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