Q&A with UNC artist Ellis Driver

Ellis Driver is a 2012 UNC graduate who double majored in art and biology. Driver currently works as a research assistant in a biology lab on campus. Her artwork is being shown in the Carolina Union Gallery until Sept. 29, and there will be a reception for the show on Wednesday.

Staff writer Caroline Pate spoke to Driver about her art and her time at UNC.

Daily Tar Heel: How does it feel to show your work at UNC again?

Ellis Driver: It feels good. It always feels weird to go back to a place where you spent a lot of time.

DTH: How did your time at UNC influence your work?

ED: I guess more than actually influenced my content, it influenced my medium. It forced me to work in different mediums. Also, the scale. I never did anything particularly big until I came to UNC. It also influenced the amount of work I did. It makes you do a lot.

DTH: Do you have a favorite medium to work with? Why?

ED: Definitely printmaking. For me it’s not about the press and the process, it’s about how you have to really commit to your drawing. I’m super bad about leaving things unfinished, but with printmaking, you have to take your idea all the way before you have a product.

DTH: What do you draw inspiration from?

ED: I do a lot of just starting with a blob of something. I do a lot of intuition-based stuff. I just kind of try to stay lighthearted about it until I find a concept. I guess they’re like, really time-intensive doodles.

DTH: Is there a theme to your show in the Union?

ED: Not really. I kept it to just prints and paintings. I mostly picked things that looked all right together.

DTH: What made you want to be an artist?

ED: I never thought about it. I went to a college a couple years early and took classes that interested me, which were art and science classes.

DTH: Where do you think art and science intersect?

ED: I’m a really visual learner. I think you have to draw things to understand them. There’s a lot of science in my art if you look at it.

DTH: What are you doing with your art now?

ED: I do science illustrations for my job. I’m one of the art contributors for Should Does. I’ve collaborated with some of those people to illustrate a comic book.

DTH: What advice would you give to UNC art students?

ED: Definitely take life drawing, because that class makes you so much better at making things and drawing them.

You have all these opportunities when you’re in school. Pay attention when you’re enrolled, because it’s so much easier to get your work out there as a student than when you’re not.

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.