On Saturday, I sat down with Kingston Li, a senior at School of Visual Arts (better known as SVA,) located in Manhattan.  We discussed his future plans, as well as his experiences in art school.  Growing up in New York City, the influences of culture and art seemed to be at odds with culture at home.  His journey through art school inside and outside of the city provide  an interesting look at the art culture of New York City as well as a point of view of a new entry into the field.

What was it like growing up in New York City from an arts perspective?

Well you get a lot of inspiration from everywhere.  The city’s just full of inspiration, whether it comes through clothing, whether if comes from architecture and design, you see a lot of good designs coming out in terms of posters and things like that as well.  Its all concentrated, its manhattan, its the big apple, you really don’t get to have such immense concentration of all this stuff anywhere else in the world.

What was going through the NewYork City schools like?

Well there’s definitely a lot of commuting around because I went to school in Manhattan. And Even though I lived in manhattan when I was younger, I moved to Brooklyn in the sixth grade and I feel like a lot of people start moving out as they get older.  A Lot of my friends back when when I was younger, living in chinatown, they’re all in Brooklyn or Queens now because its just more affordable– the rents gone up.  Besides that people keep coming back to the city, its just the place to be, its where all the opportunities are.

Were there any instances growing up, where art was a huge part of your childhood?

It was really just my teachers back at school. It was really inspiring for me to have them speak to me, and have them tell me that I was good at what I did.  I was always encouraged to do artwork, whether its for the class, or things like that.  It always seemed to have been a passion somehow.

What was it  like with your parents, with you wanting to pursue the arts?

It was hard, because I’m asian american, and I feel like in general theres a sense of stability problem that they have.  Its something they’re concerned about and I feel like its a stigma that every artist has.  Art is super general, its super big, even within graphic design.  You could be a graphic designer and there would be so many different things you can do, whether you’re concentrated in typography or you’re all about doing book jackets and things for a company, or just freelancing.

Do you feel any extra pressure at school with your parents not being supportive?

Yeah definitely, because I feel i need to give that extra effort and show that I am all for art and all for making a living out of it.  My parents don’t see that very often and its hard for them to see because their background isn’t about that.  They’re more hands on and they’re very practical in a way.  Its harder to see the direction in terms of how my life’s going to look, lets say five years.  It’s scary and I understand that from them cause they’ve grown up in China, they came from humble beginnings and its all about them working with their hands.  Its tough. They’ve grown up seeing that America is a corporate, capitalist society and to be in it, to reap from it, to have whats most from society is to be in a business or medical field.

So if you grew up anywhere besides New York, do you think you would be doing the same thing?

New York City is a huge influence in that everyday I have an opportunity to come out and just witness life in the city.  It would be very different.  I can’t see myself [there], cause I’ve visited small towns before and its just so boring.  I can’t really be inspired, other than the internet.  And that will be a source but its different for experiencing it and seeing a lot of great work.  You have all these museums, all these galleries that are in the city.  Compared to a small town, you don’t really get much of that.  And I probably wouldn’t have as many opportunities as I did growing up here.

You went to school for Maryland for a while, how was that?

Yeah, for a year and a half.  Its pretty much what we were talking about in terms of just being in New York versus being in Baltimore.  Its very different in that all your influence and all your art inspiration comes from the teachers, comes from what the school provides, and its good, its great, but outside of Baltimore and outside the school, its very difficult.  Most students there, I feel are very tight-knitted.  That they really rely on themselves, the school, the institution.  And its very different cause I’m going to SVA now.  SVA, the teachers are definitely influential but hey also want to make you go and rely on yourself more.  In that all the assignments and the time that you have, we see the teachers are really out there in a professional world already.  And they’re really well known and we see that they have their own studios and their own work to do, and they’re also teaching us.  We see all they work they put out on top of teaching and it really inspires us to seek connections, to find things on your own, and make things happen.  In Maryland it would be a little harder, its very different.

Whats the plan for after graduation?

There’s a lot of pressure for spring semester for me to get an internship, which is the most safe.  And I have to start thinking about loans and paying them back.  There really isn’t much of a plan, its kind of bad but, I feel like its going to be like this, choosing this path, this career.  Its going to be like this throughout my life.  There’s always going to be new projects, companies, clients that need help with design, its just that whatever platform it may be.

So where do you want to be in ten years?

I don’t know, I’m definitely not sure.  I’m still seeking out what I truly like from graphic design.  I know I want to use it cause graphic design is all about problem solving and being creative about it.  So I’m still trying to figure it out.

Throughout this entire process of art school do you have any regrets?

Yes.  Art school is so expensive. It is ridiculously expensive.  For some reason theres this pressure for, not just in art schools, theres this pressure to just be in a school from year one to the last year.  I would have taken, if I had to do it again, I would have gone to a community college just to get all my foundational credits so that I can really focus on all my studio classes.  Cause I’m still taking humanities and requirements, and those are just side classes.  I don’t really have time for them anymore, its all about the studio classes.  Its my senior year so I want to get my portfolio as tight as possible, as nice and good looking as possible.