Untitled works by Jaszmine Hawkins.
By Jennifer Vazquez
Observer Correspondent
BELLEVILLE –
Vivid colors courtesy of dazzling brush strokes. A one-of-a kind inventive, artistic vision. A take on the abstract. Captivating. These are all ways that one might very well describe the work of Jaszmine Hawkins – an aspiring 25-year-old budding artist from Belleville.
Hawkins possesses all the necessary attributes for a successful career in the field: passion, a surplus of creative ideas, talent and a charismatic spirit. The latter is easily attested by just speaking with her.
Hawkins’ passion for painting was always innate. However, she never had any aspirations to become a bona fide professional artist until she was in high school.
“I had phases throughout my life where I wanted to be an astronaut or I wanted to be a veterinarian,” Hawkins said. “It wasn’t until I sat with my high school guidance counselor and was asked what I wanted to do with my life that I thought, ‘What have I enjoyed constantly throughout the years?’ The answer was art.”
Seeing their child, who had been so enthralled by the idea of becoming a doctor now, suddenly, veering to pursuing an artistic ambition, brought utter shock to Hawkins’ parents.
Even though, she explains, her parents were always relatively supportive of her artistic ambitions, they were, nonetheless, a bit afraid of what the life of an artist might be like. The idea of having their daughter follow in the path of many “starving” artists was not appealing to them.
“Imagine telling your parents that you are going from wanting to be a doctor, pretty much your whole life, to a painter?” she recalls, laughing. “They were just worried. They didn’t want me to be a ‘starving’ artist.”
Her parents’ apprehensions aside, one of Hawkins’ relatives wholeheartedly endorsed her aspirations.
“My aunt has always supported me,” she said. “She would always buy me painting kits and supplies. She really believed in my passion.”
Other role models played an equally influential part in Hawkins’ life and work. Masterminds such as Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dali and Maurice Braun, among others, all shaped her artistic taste and interest – so much so, that she distinctly remembers the image that captivated her and subsequently provoked her passion for painting.
“I remember the first time I saw (van Gogh’s) ‘Starry Night,’ ” she recalled. “It literally took my breath away. I still love everything about it. The colors, the strokes … everything!”
While Hawkins has no problem speaking in detail of her idols and their work, don’t ask her to describe her own art style – because that topic is all too hard for her to convey.
“Other people can’t categorize (my work) because I can’t categorize it,” Hawkins explained. “I would say it’s a mixture of abstract – at times, surrealism. I’ve done avantgarde. It’s just really expressive work. It’s whatever I am feeling. I do tell stories. I have a story for each (piece). I normally don’t tell people (the story behind the painting) because I want them to have their own story for it.”
Given that “everyday life” is the inspiration to her work, her art is a complete collection of eclectic and innovative visual stimulations. However, there seems to be one particular subject that Hawkins is fond of and might be the signature characteristic of most of her paintings.
“I’m known for doing really exaggerated lips stemming from my mom’s obsession with lips,” Hawkins said. “I mean everything you can imagine putting lips on, she has it.”
Hawkins attended Xavier University in New Orleans with hopes of majoring in the arts. However, this charismatic and independent young woman decided to put her studies on hold and become a professional artist for now, testing her luck in the competitive art world.
After showcasing, selling and being commissioned paintings in the New Orleans area, she decided to return to her native state, New Jersey, and try her luck in the Capital of the World – New York.
When speaking of her goals and dreams she exudes an air of confidence while acknowledging the cutthroat, critical, competitiveness in the art world, especially in New York.
The first goal on her list? Finish her collegiate studies.
Although she stresses the desire to finish her academic degree – this time, at an institution closer to the tri-state area – Hawkins also proudly boasts of her ultimate dream: “I would love to own my own gallery in Brooklyn.”
By sheer talent alone, it seems that Hawkins is easily on her way.
