We were lucky to catch up with Zerric Clinton recently and have shared our conversation below.
Zerric, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
Being the only one in the room that looks like me seems to be a common denominator each time I have achieved significant goals throughout my life. Especially, in terms of attaining college degrees. As an undergraduate art major at a predominantly white institution in the early 1990s I quickly realized the slogan “Only the strong survive” In almost every studio art class I was the only person that looked like me and I felt it every time we had a critique. My work was always vastly different from my classmates who were mostly Caucasian. It felt like I was on candid camera as they would always seem to want to know more about my work because they would say, “It’s so different!” Sometimes I thought it was complimentary, but often I was unsure of their intentions for saying this. Then, I had a professor that made it very clear of what he thought about my work by saying, “It looks too ethnic!” I am certain this was the moment in time where I decided that I would never allow anyone to ever determine my progression in life as a black artist. I should probably thank him for saying this since it compelled me to go as hard as I could and to this day, I still possess that thought process.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Zerric Clinton is an artist educator who resides in metro Atlanta. He has taught art education at the secondary level for over 20 years. Dr. Clinton received both a bachelor of fine arts degree and master of arts degree in educational leadership from Valdosta State University, and a doctorate degree in art education from Florida State University. Zerric is a lifelong artist educator who enjoys teaching art and creating abstract works of art based on social issues, personal experiences and inspiration from various forms of music. His website is zerricarts.com and his Instagram social media handle is @zerricarts. Zerric’s studio is located at 136 Hood Street in the Hood Street Art Gallery in McDonough, GA. Recent shows include: PIVOT: Restoring Balance, Emma Darnell Aviation Museum, Atlanta, GA. Artcestry, Privi Gallery, Stonecrest, GA., ICON exhibit, d’Art Center, Norfolk, VA., Healing Humanity exhibit at Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Buckhead, GA. NCA 2023 MLK Exhibit, New Orleans, LA., Infectious Creativity Exhibit, Kennesaw State University, 4th Annual Abstract Project, Mozaik Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA. Freedom of Abstraction, Brooklyn, NY, 32nd Annual McNeese Art Show, Lake Charles, LA. He was commissioned by Valerie Art Appraiser Cooper to create art for the Atlanta Housing Authority. Zerric created artwork for the Hawks Foundation and State Farm collaboration https://www.nba.com/hawks/inthepaint. Dr. Zerric Clinton launched his new book The Power of Popular Culture in Education: History, Music and Visual Imagery. His book was written for a wide audience. Foremost, it was written to benefit young people who are of particular concern to me since they may not have developed the skill of critically viewing media. Professors and teachers can use this book to design impactful instructional experiences that will empower students to critically examine the visual imagery they see. Parents will find it to be a useful resource as they review the background of why it is important for their children to be able to decipher everything they see as they become critical thinkers. Dr. Clinton’s book is available for purchase at https://www.positivepushpress.com/ and https://www.amazon.com/ .
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
As I reflect on the lessons learned over the years I know that resilience and being goal-oriented lifelong learner are essential components for this journey called life. Early in life I wanted things to happen quickly, but I have learned that being successful rarely happens overnight and it is an ongoing process. For me, being successful requires an ongoing commitment to being the best version of yourself. Since I am a competitive person I think that I always seek to get better and better at this thing called art and education. As an artist, I am not afraid to try new mediums knowing that there is always a learning curve and that to become proficient at anything will require dedication. The same holds true for being an art educator. Lessons that I create now are vastly different from lessons that I would create early in my teaching career because the students are different. For instance, using technology in the art room is commonplace now, but a decade ago things were vastly different. So, art educators still teach the basics, but once students understand the elements of art and the principles of design we have to loosen the reins and allow them to explore any medium and digital art is just another medium that they have access to. This keeps veteran educators like me in a continuous learning space and often I am learning along with the students. My best advice to those that are early in their journey is continue to learn and don’t be afraid to not be the most knowledgeable person in the room.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
There were times when I only wanted to hone my strengths as a visual artist, but I had a professor that helped me see this form a better vantage point. As a first year college student in Drawing 1 I always created realistic representations for my assignments. Realism was easy for me because that had been my focus during my entire time in middle and high school. After a few weeks in the Drawing 1 class my professor came into the room and picked up all the extra pencils I had laid out. Then, he gave me this piece of compressed charcoal and said for the remaining time you are in my class you cannot use pencils. I was furious because I was thinking how am I going to draw with this bid piece of charcoal. I like realism. But, he refused to change his mind. After a couple of weeks or so I started to slowly embrace using this medium. By the end of my time in the class I had become accustomed to drawing with the charcoal and was beginning to like it somewhat. Secretly, I still wanted to use pencil though. As I begin to matriculate through other classes I started to study about abstract art and began to try working in that way. As you can imaging going from realistic drawing to working in an abstract manner was a challenge. Re-training my mind to do this took time. I am here today to say that most of my work these days is purely abstract and I owe it all to my professor that challenged me. To grow as an artist I had to become strong in areas that in the beginning are very uncomfortable. It’s the same for life. To become a better person we have to be willing to learn new ways of doing things. So, we are perpetually moving in a better direction.
Contact Info:
- Website: zerricarts.com
- Instagram: @zerricarts
- Facebook: Zerric Clinton
- Linkedin: Zerric Clinton
