Monet and Van Gough inspire UCSB and SBCC student

Seeing beauty in the world is a hard thing to do, much less create it. But when it comes to Emily May McEwan, City College student and artist, the task of making something truly beautiful is a drive and a must.

"There isn't an emphasis on aesthetics," said McEwan. "Not to say that I don't have concepts behind my art. I just want to make something beautiful."

McEwan, 23 with animated and eye-catching behind black-framed glasses, grew up in the industrialized land of San Jose and spent a portion of her life there.

She later moved to Morgan Hill, Calif. and finally as a senior in high school, she moved to Monterey. After high school, she attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco for a year studying the likes of drawing and sculpture.

Although she loved the city and all it had to offer, she made a decision and sought out a more academic education and migrated to Santa Barbara where she now lives with a menagerie of animals including three cats and a host of reptiles.

She not only attends City College but UCSB, where she is taking a class in art history, Spanish art and Romanesque art. She hopes to double major in art history and studio art. In addition to these courses she is taking French at City College.

McEwan describes her art as being "very organic and free, not restricted at all." Her paintings of flowers and shapes take on color and bring out a visual magnificence. She has achieved beauty.

One painting, "Flower Fetish II" is a look of brilliance, showing the use of red, orange and green to convey nature as it is, refreshing and a little glamorous. Another, "Still Life 2," takes a look at half a lemon in a clear glass, a lonely apple and a pitcher.

Her simplicity gives a feeling of calm, a citrus scent, and the overall vision of McEwan seeing the beauty in something so ordinary.

"She's always trying to find new ways to do things," said McEwan's best friend, Marci Hinkle. "With new techniques and new styles."

Since she was a child, McEwan had a desire for the arts. Her mother took her to museums, everything from the Louvre in Paris to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

"She wanted to expose me to a lot of stuff," said McEwan.

She has realized her love for the visual around the globe. She says that some of her favorite artists include Monet, Van Gogh and more than any others Umberto Boccioni, a futurist artist.

"What made me want to be an artist was when I went to New York and went to the MOMA and saw his painting," said McEwan of Boccioni.

Not one to be restricted to just painting, McEwan has dabbled in the likes of sculpting and even tattoo art, three of which she has needled on her own body. She has drawn up others for friends, including one for Hinkle.

Though she enjoys doing the original drawings, she doesn't go as far as to work the needle herself.

McEwan does most of her work within her own home. Although she would like to get out of the house to work, most of her art is done in the wee hours of the night when she has time due to her being a self-proclaimed "night owl."

One of her paintings hangs in Bricks Café on State Street while others are on display to her self and guests in her home.

McEwan has a knack for dusting through the grit to get to the beauty. Her work is a testament to what is out there and what can be done. Nothing short of awe -inspiring, her pieces pay homage to what is simply beautiful.