About the Artists From “Making a Mark” Student Gallery

By: Kylee Jennings

Kelsi Roth

“I have been drawing my whole life. In high school I started working my way up through the art classes. I got up to the highest level and I kind of got to do what ever I wanted and my teacher really tried to help me expand what I was working on — and then I started here [ICC] and I started to do the same thing.”

Roth has finished the art program here at ICC this past spring and is now taking a practicum painting class to remain a student and fulfill her participation in the student art show “Making a Mark,” located on the first floor.

After ICC, Roth plans to continue her education in Art at a university.

In the past Roth has mostly used inks and acrylics, although, she is now beginning to dabble with oils and most likely, she will continue the use and experimentation of oil painting.

Also, lets not forget the best fun fact about “Making a Mark.” Between Roth’s self portraits and Griffiths paintings of Roth, there are a total of 9 portraits of Roth in the gallery. That’s pretty impressive, to say the least.

Tim Griffith

“In the summer of 1968 I was being obnoxious at a friends house and his mom took him and I and sat us down with some canvas and paints… She had us start painting and I haven’t stopped.”
Griffith explained how he had a working career his whole life but wasn’t involved in art as much as he wished to be. Now retired, Griffith decided to head back to school to join the community of artists here in Peoria.All of Griffith’s pieces that are part of the “Making a Mark” gallery, excluding one self portrait and a sculpture that are complimentary, are part of a series he worked on back in the spring of this year called, “Bold Portraits.” In that project he incorporated color experimentation, and a portrait using a model who happened to be part of this fall show: Kelsi Roth.

After ICC, Griffith plans to go to a University. His top two choices as of now are Bradley and ISU to continue his education in Fine Art.
Erik Scot

“When I was a kid I really enjoyed doing it [art] — pretty much all I had. I moved around a lot, so thats really all I had was drawing and painting, and that was you know, my entertainment, I guess.”

As of now, Scot is mostly focused on painting. He explains how he’s here for the education, and the degree is a only bonus for him. Scot plans to take advantage of as many art classes as possible while at ICC.
In “Making a Mark,” Scot’s pieces are collections from over time to create this one project. To him, there aren’t any specific pieces that he would deem to be best. Instead, all of his pieces show the evolution of his work, there is not any part that can stand alone, but rather they all work together to define him as an artist.

Scot spends most of his time tattoo for a company called, “Dream Illustration,” located in Chillicothe, IL. Scot got into tattooing about 2 years ago. It was something that he just sort of fell into and he knew it would be the best way for him to continue to create art and support his family. His tattoos have started to evolve more into a “fine art” style, rather than the popular modern tattoo styles.

Visit dreamillustration.net to view some of Scots work.