The passion of a young artist….

Alicia Lang, age 23, has already learned through her art studies the qualities that all of us need to succeed on whatever path we decide to travel. They are “patience, give yourself time; perseverance, you have to have a certain mindset; dedication and commitment, you really have to want to do it.”

Alicia has art in her DNA. Both sisters are hairdressers, a form of art for sure. Both grandfathers are good artists. She has cousins who have art abilities, her uncle owns his own graphic design firm, several aunts have artistic abilities and her brother is a musician.

Alicia knew early on that she had a gift in art and that was her passion. In kindergarten she remembers everybody raving about a drawing she did of an elephant. Growing up and going through grammar and then high school she drew constantly. Everybody recognized her art abilities.

After high school where she was highly active in cheerleading, she attended and worked hard at Union County College part time for four years. There she received “A/B” grades and her Associates Degree in Fine Arts while working in a day-care center and studying art part time for three years at the highly rated du Cret School of Art in Plainfield.

Following earning her Associates Degree she followed Tim Jahn, who had been an instructor at duCret, when he opened his own studio in Central New Jersey. See the education section in Your Life section of this web site to learn more about Tim’s school. Or visit www.jahnstudios.com.

Artists that inspire Alicia are deVinci, John Singer Sargent, Salvador Dali and her teacher Tim Jahn and Tim’s teacher, Anthony Waichulis. Alicia juggles multiple jobs including one in a New Jersey art gallery in order to study intensively with Tim three or four days a week which has been her schedule for about the past year. Alicia is estimating it will take her three years or maybe a little longer to complete her studies.

To date all of Alicia’s work with Tim has been with charcoal and white chalk on a very special paper that works well with these materials. One of the skills that Alicia has been learning is exactly how much pressure to apply when drawing. Pressure nuances can have a major impact on the quality of the finished art. Eventually Alicia will be working with oil paints.

All of the students in the school draw from photos they take or select from other sources. The goal being to enhance the photo. As Ali says, “my drawings go beyond what the eye can see.” Alicia refers to it as “hyper-realism” with the finished drawing being not quite the same as the photo. As she explained “Sometimes, the drawing can be better than the photograph. It can tell a story.”

Alicia, a born-again Christian, works to express herself through her art. When you see samples of her drawings that aspect of her work is evident. Admitting she loves creating portraits she is nevertheless not bound by having any particular type of subject to draw. She does still life and landscapes as well as painting murals.

Alicia is heavily involved in her church and also gives back by working closely with younger kids.

To date Alicia has been commissioned to do one drawing from a wedding photo. She was paid $400 for the work. Some of her work is being exhibited at an upcoming Jahn Studio Black & White show at the Salmagundi Gallery in New York City. Two of her pieces (the Wine Glass and Jewelry Box shown here) will be available for sale, each in the $700 range.

Alicia is a realist. She knows how tough it is to earn a living in the art world. But she is a passionate, patient, dedicated young woman committed to making it in the world she has chosen for herself. A lot of Ali’s hard work, dedication and commitment come from her many years of being on an All Star competitive cheerleading team and coaching.

She expects to earn her living and develop her place among ranking artists by selling her work in Galleries and by taking on commission assignments. One of her goals is to “have my art work inspire people positively and to be able to create a relationship with the viewer without meeting me.”

Her career fall back position would be to augment her income by teaching. While sharing her talents with others would be an exceptional resource for other aspiring artists, Garden State Woman has a hunch she will make it strictly through her own finished art.

For any Garden State Woman web site viewer with a passion for developing their own artistic talents or with kids looking to explore art as a career Alicia would be a great resource: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..