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By JONATHAN MOSS
She wakes up at 7:30 a.m. to the sound of her phone alarm ringing through her ears. She knows she has a long Thursday filled with art classes ahead of her as she puts on her clothes that she laid out the night before.
Only a step or two away, she walks into the bathroom, where she styles her hair and washes her face to get her day started. As she slings her backpack over her shoulder, she grabs a premade Starbucks frappuccino out of the fridge and a Pop-Tart from the pantry. She heads out of East Campus Suites at 7:55 a.m. and swiftly walks to the Case Art Building to make it to Junior Review at 8 a.m.
“We discuss the best way to present art, as I have to present 20 pieces at the end of the semester,” says Abby Wade.
Junior Review ends at 9:15, only giving Wade 15 minutes before her next class, Drawing. She pops her head in the computer lab and waves to friends Callie Burnette and Jonathan Moss before going into the drawing room. As soon as her professor, Maureen O’Neil, goes over the daily project and homework from the previous class, she puts in her headphones and begins to draw.
“Once I get into my art, time passes without me knowing. I get into a zone that is like a form of meditation, this allows me to express myself through different forms of media, rather than words,” says Wade.
When 12:15 hits, she quickly puts up her current drawing and walks to the cafeteria. She only has 15 minutes to grab lunch and head back to the Case Art Building for her graphic design class.
Her class starts with professor Susan Fecho giving a lecture, followed by a class critique. She then puts her headphones in to get in the zone and complete her project in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign.
It’s 3:15 p.m. when graphic design ends. After almost seven straight hours of class, she heads to the field for soccer practice, eating a bag of fruit snacks along the way. Two hours later, she leaves the field and heads back to East Campus Suites for a quick shower before dinner in the school cafeteria.
She has a quick dinner and relentlessly walks to her last class of the day, animation. She enters the same building that she has been in all day, the Case Art Building. The clock strikes 8:50 p.m. and she is finally done with classes for the day.
Wade’s grandmother Gloria and aunt Bonnie were the main supporters for her art. They surrounded her with art from a young age because they knew she was gifted in the arts.
“My grandmother and I would draw in the same sketchbook when waiting around for family, then I would show my art to aunt Bonnie and she would help me improve by teaching me new techniques,” says Wade.
Wade is currently pursuing a degree in Fine Arts with a graphic design concentration at Barton College.
“Art is something I am passionate about, which is why it is my major. I cannot imagine doing something for the rest of my life that I do not have a passion for,” says Wade.
