Zaria Forman
New York, NY USA
"I'm trying to encourage people with positivity and hope. If you fall in love with something, you want to protect it."
Career Roadmap
Zaria's work combines: Art, Environment & Nature, and Being Creative
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Using pastels, as I do, is a tricky medium and white is a very hard color to use and manipulate. Early on, I was omitting the ice from my work and only focusing on the sea and sky. Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to focus my work on climate change and solving this issue, I had to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to paint ice.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Fine/Studio Arts, General
Skidmore College
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
Her mother was a landscape photographer, and each summer, they’d spend one month traveling.
2.
Her mom taught her artistic principles that Zaria still uses today, like how to set up a shot with an interesting composition, and how to follow and best make use of the light.
3.
Years before climate change had become a huge topic of discussion, her family traveled to Greenland, where they got to see the effects of global warming up close.
4.
She realized that she wanted to focus her work on amplifying people’s understanding of these issues.
5.
She and her mother started planning a second excursion to Greenland, but before they could make the trip, her mom was diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away six months later.
6.
She decided to follow through on her mother’s vision, and took the trip to Greenland with a group of artists and scientists.
7.
After that journey, she started making the giant pastel drawings of ice that she’s become well-known for.
8.
Believes that when people read about climate change, they have a hard time empathizing, but when they see it depicted in her large-scale paintings, they’re more moved and inspired to act.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I don't think I can draw ice. This seems impossible.
How I responded:
Using pastels, as I do, is a tricky medium and white is a very hard color to use and manipulate. Early on, I was omitting the ice from my work and only focusing on the sea and sky. Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to focus my work on climate change and solving this issue, I had to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to paint ice.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
A few years ago my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer and died very quickly afterwards which was a shock, but my art gave me something to pour my grief into.
I keep wanting to make bigger and bigger art, but I'm limited by space, it's really expensive, and it is very difficult to work with soft pastels on that scale.