Grieta Ham never uses just one material. A maximalist when it comes to their art, they will use colored pencils, highlighters, paints and more. Layering one atop the other until the paper is thick with color is a technique Ham has come to describe as “emotional layering.”

“I channel a lot of my emotions into my art,” Ham said. “Because of that, my art can be dark or imperfect, but it is always true to how I feel.”
Though they have always been a fan of art, it wasn’t until their freshman year that Ham really started to become invested. Dealing with the difficult transition from middle school to high school, Ham turned to art as an outlet; finding it to be a great way to express the feelings they couldn’t otherwise.

Every other day Ham would find themself sitting atop a stool in Steve Coron’s Beginning Drawing class. And for just a few hours out of the school day they were free to create; to paint, to draw and to pour everything out — both the good and the bad — onto the pages of their sketchbook.

“I felt like Steve’s class was a community within Community,” Ham said. “School has always been really stressful for me but that art class felt like a break from life.”

Coron let Ham know that they were at liberty to try anything. This meant experimenting with countless materials, no matter how unconventional they were. At one point in the semester Ham even experimented with old candy. After finding a packet of Skittles at the bottom of their backpack, they soaked them in water and used the remnants, reminiscent of watercolor paint.

This freedom is something Ham has found to be crucial to their artistic process. In fact, one of the main things stopping Ham from considering art school is the lack of freedom. In higher levels of art education there is more stress placed on deadlines and grades, something Ham fears could cause burn out. In weighing these factors they have found that freedom, like the kind they experienced in Coron’s class, is something they value far more. Whether they end up doing art on an organized level or not, this freeness to express themself is something they hope will always be a part of their life.

Ham creates best with no rules or limitations. Layering different materials, scribbling, sketching and pouring their emotions onto the paper — it leaves their pieces deeply personal. It is as if the viewer is getting a small glimpse into Ham’s brain.

“My hope with my art is for people to feel even a fraction of what I feel,” Ham said. “To understand it or to know they aren’t alone in feeling a certain way.”

So in between the layers of highlighter and marker, pen and charcoal, even Skittle derived paint, there is feeling and emotion: a kind that can only be found in Ham’s work.