Hannah McKeating is a freshman at St. Edward’s University who is majoring in English Literature and Art. She met me in her dorm room wearing a kimono, sunglasses, and socks that read, “wine is my favorite salad.” Vibrant tapestries, posters and art works leave no space white in her room. She invited me for a seat on her bean bags, where she sleeps more often than not, and asked me to choose a record to spin. I chose The Cramps.

Gonzalez: How long have you been an artist?

McKeating: Wow that’s a tough one. My mom was an artist, so was her sister, and her dad before her as well, so art has always been apart of my life. She used to keep me home from school every once in a while so we could have an art day.

NG: What kind of art does your mom do?

HM: My mom is mostly a painter, though she dabbles in just about everything. She likes painting cities and people so we have her paintings of Ethiopia, Jakarta and Mexico all over the house.

NG: And your Aunt and Grandfather?

HM: My grandpa does lots of murals and caricatures, he’s also in a band. My Aunt used to teach at illustration at Texas State. She does a lot of freelance work now. Everyone in my family does really impressive work.

NG: What kind of art do you create?

HM: Most of the art I do is life drawing, though I like doing mixed media things as well. I’ve painted a bit, but I’ve never taken a class so I don’t really know what I’m doing.

NG: How would you describe your art?

HM: My favorite thing to draw has always been people. The human body is already perfected art in my eyes. I like trying to capture the emotion a person has in their face and hand. The age of someone matters, older people have a lot of character in their wrinkles and their scars. At some point, you can see the physical effects of their experiences and their story.

NG: What inspires you?

HM: People, for the most part, and music. Music is easily one of the most pure forms of self expression someone can make. Music has a huge influence on what you feel and how you carry yourself. I did this one piece where I drew the eyes of lots of different musicians like Ian Curtis and Johnny Rotten and Paul McCartney. It was really interesting to me how their music was so connected with the emotion in their face.

NG: What do you want to do with your art?

HM: I think my dream job would be comedy writing for a television show or “Saturday Night Live.” I’ll probably end up being an English professor if I’m quite honest with myself, though I would love to create like an animated series of some kind. I really like film, writing and art. I feel like animation is where they all combine. It would be perfect for me. Dream big.

NG: Who are some of your favorite artists?

HM: I would say Frida Kahlo, Egon Schiele and Hope Gangloff. Kahlo understood herself so well and self portraits are so bloody hard. Gangloff and Schiele, had their respective ways of showing people and the morbidity that they bring to their art is truly unique. Gangloff shows modern life through a completely personal lense. Schiele drew people in such an angular and bony way, it’s wild.

McKeating made me listen to “Shannon and the Clams” before I left.

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