There are so many words to describe Jona Shreeves-Taylor: fun, amazingly talented, witty, undoubtedly sarcastic and caring–just to name of a few. But one word comes to my mind when describing the twenty-year old, West Philadelphia native (Overbrook, to be exact) and that is spunky.
Very bubbly, upbeat and surprisingly open and personable, this junior Broadcast Telecommunications Mass Media major has dreams to make it big and she is doing it her way and on her own terms.
With her savvy personality, innate talent and raw ambition, the artist is in no doubt getting closer and closer to her dreams every day. Having her artwork featured in Philadelphia’s own E.W.W. Creative Solutions, a graphic design group that also serves as a platform for young artists to network and collaborate; her work showcased in numerous art shows and even having a portrait of Wiz Khalifa autographed by Mr. Taylor Gang himself, Taylor is a true representation of what Beyoncé would define as a diva: a female version of a hustla.
Check out the Q&A that I had with the campus celebrity and read all about how she got into art and her future plans and goals.
How old were you when you got into art?
“When I was two, I started drawing. My mom still has it. It is a picture of a stick figure man but the sun is bigger than his head. They are the same size—the sun and the man. And there is a flower next to the man. I had no sense of scale. I had no sense of anything. I just knew what I saw.
I started painting when I was four and I started doing sculpture at Fleisher’s Art Memorial.”
Who inspired you to get into art?
“I don’t know. It was just my own thing because when I was little, I just started. My pop-pop would always do the same doodle of a woman with a pen on a napkin and I would try to emulate it and I would make it look exactly like his doodle. And my dad was a painter.
What inspires you?
“I will go on the internet or I will be walking around and see guerilla art on the streets. Or I will see a color in a flower—just something odd that will catch my attention. Just anything and I will take that and draw it. I might not draw you exactly but I will edit it to make it my own. Anything inspires me.”
What is your art collective about?
“Well, I am starting my own group and it is called Delirium. The group will consist of doing logos, tattoo design, business cards, art, flyers, shirts and more. I don’t want to say much because I want us to grow first.”
Why did you choose Delirium for the name of your art collective?
“Because delirium is when your state of mind alters due to something crazy; so it could be just excitement or you are overwhelmed or anything. And we are making crazy s*** so we want to cause delirium.”
What do you want to do with your major?
” I just wanted to go to school for art. But my mom always said that I was always good with people and that I am nosey as all hell. Just different things about that led me to think that I should do journalism. I told her that I never wanted to do a job that does the same thing. So, hopefully I can be a personality or have a television show or write scripts for movies. But art is my thing.”
Add Jona as a friend on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/jstalwayz