Brooklyn Neagle is a sophomore art student at the University of Southern Maine. She has been creating art since she was a child, and can’t recall a time in her life when she wasn’t doing something artistic. Neagle began to take art seriously in middle school by taking several different elective art classes.
Neagle is originally from (redacted), but is currently living in Westbrook, ME. Neagle chose to attend USM because she has always loved Maine, the cost of tuition is low and she liked what the art department has to offer here.
Neagle’s work involves graphic design, sketching, and she has recently gotten into sculpture. Her favorite art class to date is 2-D Design with Rebecca Goodale at USM. The class taught her a lot about art and the basics of design.
Her favorite piece she has created is a ceramic mug. She described the mug as “crazy looking, and extremely abstract”. She loves abstract art and finds ceramics fun to experiment with.
Throughout quarantine, Neagle has put a lot of focus into her artwork. Her biggest obstacle was not having assignments for class to complete. “The assignments in class really helped me be productive all of the time,” says Neagle. During school, Neagle spent a lot of her time in the studio.
At the same time, Neagle benefited from all of the spare time quarantine gave her. She realized how much she made art in her life. “Quarantine just really solidified that art was what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life,” says Neagle.
She has always turned to art during anxious or negative times throughout her life. The uncertainty and changes of COVID-19 caused anxiety and negativity in many people’s lives.
During quarantine, Neagle realized art isn’t just about what you are making, but it is the therapeutic process of making the art; creating something out of nothing.
Neagle is currently working on a magazine that will eventually be a fashion lookbook. It will feature sketches and graphic design. She still has to work in photoshop to add additional elements to it. It is a larger project that she has been working on for a few months now.
Lately, Neagle has been taking inspiration from nature. She enjoys going on long walks, and meditating. On her walks, she will observe little patterns and designs in nature.
Although nature is her main inspiration, Neagle is also inspired by music. She always plays music while she is creating art, and she finds it really opens her mind into the creative process and gets her artistic juices flowing.
Neagle is also interested in collaborating with musicians. She loves to make album covers and other cover artwork. She has worked on projects the past few years collaborating with her friends that are musicians, but Neagle says, “In a perfect world, I would love to be Brooklyn Neagle doing her own art.”
Neagle is only at the beginning of her career as an artist. The struggles she has experienced with COVID-19 are not the only obstacles she will face in her career. As long as she continues to find the good within the bad, Neagle will have a successful career.