Beck Meissner

As a junior at Windham High School I am currently preparing my portfolio for applications to art schools for a BFA in illustration. I would love to work in the entertainment industry, whether that be within visual development, concept artistry, set design, costume design, or as an art director. I have such fond memories of growing up and listening to my dad read fantasy books to me, watching action and sci-fi films with him, and absolutely devouring graphic novels and comic books from the Nesmith library. I adore stories, especially the kind of fast-paced fiction that I was raised on, and I want to help work on a new generation of these stories to maybe inspire yet another small-town kid.  

I work in a variety of media including charcoal, oils, watercolor, ink, and digital. I find that some of my best work comes from simply trying out a technique that I’ve never used before and exploring what connections I can make across my personal experiences and the fiction I love. I enjoy studying unassuming objects around me, such as fruit, hands, or even the construction outside my apartment window, and distort them in such a way that creates drama. My charcoal hand study, for example, began as a simple anatomy practice piece, but I quickly realized how much the grayscale format reminded me of vintage films. I decided to lean into the drama of the poses, many of the hands reaching out for something that isn’t there, two wielding kitchen knives á-la-50’s-horror-movie-housewife, and two holding spheres in Hamlet-esque contemplation. Most of my pieces fall into the categories of direct observation (“Statue Study,” “Hand Study 13,” “Pastel Test- Fruit,”), experiences I’ve lived or things I’ve seen (“Milieu,” “639 Days”), or a greater metaphor based on literature, societal issues, or tried-and-true classic emotion (“Dilivium,” “Sweet Sixteen,” “July in Appalachia”). Art is the lens through which I watch the world, appreciate relationships, and attempt to understand how to be alive. There is so much to experience and so much to make and I’m overjoyed to have the opportunity to pursue a career doing what I love.