Rebeccah Young

Biography

My name is Rebeccah Young, I am 22 years old. When in kindergarten my teacher asked each student in the class what there life's ambition was and I immediately knew I wanted to be an artist, particularly with focus in the fine arts. Ever since that day I have pursued this dream without question. I began taking private art lessons, reading loads of books on technique, famous masters, color theory, composition, etc., and taking part in summer art programs. In middle school  I always put 110% into my work and it paid off with awards of excellent at small art shows at school, local venues, and the county fair. One of my biggest achievements took place when I was 14 years old. It was an important experience for me because it showed me that art was more than just something pretty to look at, I realized that it was also a statement and an excellent form of self expression. I entered the Lion's Club international Peace Poster Contest, creating a peace statement in watercolor that reflected my stand in a period where the USA was on the brink of war. I won the second to highest honor which earned me a interview on CNN. It was a thrilling opportunity to tell the world about my beliefs and how I used my soul and art to express them.

At the age of 16, I graduated high school. I immediately began researching art schools and traveling across the country to visit them and attend National Portfolio Days. At last I decided on Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach because of the school's focus on realism and the figure. I was accepted and moved across the country by myself to purse my dream education. It was my first semester that I painted with oils for the first time. I instantly fell in love and use them, along with watercolor as my primary mediums. A second semester junior, I dedicate my life to art, refraining from a job and too much leisure time. Art is my passion and it is my hope to share this passion with students as a teacher or professor one day. It is with determination, desire, and much motivation that I hope to reach my full potential as an individual and an artist.

Artist Statement

Art has been a brightly burning passion of mine; I vividly remember assuring my kindergarten teacher that I would be an artist when I grew up and I have pursued that dream to this day. Today I am an emerging painter who is very found of watercolor and oil paint mediums. Research is crucial to the creating of my art, I spend a great deal of time observing the world around me, as well as researching old masters and contemporary artists. It has become my mission to bring the beauty of the world and human mind into the light through my art, to teacher people to “look” and not merely “see.” In my art I attempt to create a new world, a world where imagination and reality collide, a world where the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary.

Art Education

• 2006 - Present BFA, Laguna College of Art and Design - Laguna Beach, CA
• 2005 – 2006 County College of Morris- Fine Arts and Psychology - Randolph, NJ

Awards

• 2004 Lion’s Clubs International Peace Poster Contest: A Statement on World Peace Top 24 of 24,000 Entries
• 2009 Laguna College of Art and Design Juried Exhibition Contest Winner 2009 Plotkin scholarship award Commissions
• 2008 Commission of "Decadent Dessert" series of 6 paintings of various cakes and desserts Exhibitions
• 2006 West Milford Artists’ Society Young Artists Show- West Milford, NJ
• 2008 Laguna College of Art and Design: Grapes for Grads- Laguna Beach, CA
• 2008 Private Exhibition- Laguna Niguel, CA
• 2009 Laguna College of Art and Design "Best of the Best" Show
• 2010 Plotkin Scholarship and gallery showing
• 2010 Laguna College of Art and Design "Best of the Best" Show
• 2010 Grapes for Grads Scholarship Winner
• 2010 Grand Coteau Art Show in Grand Coteau, Louisiana
• 2010 presented 3 pieces in the Lafayette Art Gallery's December Show in Lafayette, LA
• 2010-2011 Founded R.A.W. Unaffiliated, Inc.