Currently in Senior Production, the class of 2016 is in the process of designing t-shirts for fundraising during Spring Concert. When deciding who should design the graphics for the shirt, all 23 producers unanimously nominated our talented classmate, Matilda Sakamoto. Inspired by artists such as Egon Shiele, Gustav Klimt, and Audrey Kawasaki, visual art has always been a release and escape for Matilda since she was very young. She has used her exceptional skill and style to create a beautiful design for our class that represents us in the most honest way. I was able to sit down with Matilda for a few moments between classes and rehearsals to ask her a couple questions about her design. It has been interesting to see if her experience as a visual artist has grown from the process of designing our shirt.
Amanda Mortimore: How would you describe your style as a visual artist?
Matilda Sakamoto: I guess I like to do people. That’s not really a style, but it’s a subject matter that interests me. I think my style tends to be simple, yet detailed and delicate. I like to do things that are based off of real life, but slightly exaggerated or magical.
AM: What was your inspiration for the design of the t-shirt?
MS: I thought it was appropriate to do something with bodies since we are dancers and that is our instrument. I was looking at a lot of different photos online to get inspiration and I decided to use pictures of a woman’s back and a man’s back as references. I thought it was pretty, simple, and gender neutral. I didn’t want it to be obviously male or female because it’s a class shirt that represents all of us. So it’s just a body, versus being a gender. For the front of the shirt I included a small design that references a man and woman, which represents our class as well. After I drew the body, I created a graphic design around that with all of our names and I did what I thought was aesthetically nice and mixed well with my style.
AM: How do you think your design represents our legacy as the class of 2016?
MS: I think we are complex and simple at the same time and I wanted that to be in the design. There are stronger lines and there are more delicate lines that could be taken as all the different people that make up our class. I think it’s a subtle, simple and pretty design, but it still has a little kick to it. It’s not just delicate and beautiful, it is kind of hunched and you can sense there is something more going on. It’s slightly tortured in a way, which I think fits our class in the best way. I also think it’s a design that would be an attractive shirt. I believe it’s important for our class to create good products and not just cute mementos.
AM: You also designed the shirts we made for our class freshman year. How would you compare the two?
MS: The shirt from our freshman year was made just for us and for our own personal enjoyment, whereas the shirts for our senior year are being made for a wider array of people. I believe that our shirt this year also has a more mature design because we have grown tremendously since freshman year.
AM: What did you learn from the process?
MS: When I create art, I don’t try to force people to feel a certain way. I just hope it makes people feel something, even if it’s different from the way I personally feel about it. I think it’s interesting to hear so many different opinions of one thing. I got to know our class even better and learned that everyone has a different aesthetic when it comes to analyzing someone else’s work. Designing the shirt for our class was fun and it was good practice for designing more shirts in the future.
It is an honor for the class of 2016 to feature Matilda’s design (shown below) on our Senior Production t-shirts that will be sold during Spring Concert, March 23rd through March 26th. We appreciate all of the time, effort, and energy she has put into this project. If you are interested in learning more about Matilda and her work, please visit matildasakamoto.tumblr.com. If you would like to buy a shirt and support Senior Production, please keep visiting our website for more updates and information about purchasing details.
Written by: Amanda Mortimore
Amanda Mortimore: How would you describe your style as a visual artist?
Matilda Sakamoto: I guess I like to do people. That’s not really a style, but it’s a subject matter that interests me. I think my style tends to be simple, yet detailed and delicate. I like to do things that are based off of real life, but slightly exaggerated or magical.
AM: What was your inspiration for the design of the t-shirt?
MS: I thought it was appropriate to do something with bodies since we are dancers and that is our instrument. I was looking at a lot of different photos online to get inspiration and I decided to use pictures of a woman’s back and a man’s back as references. I thought it was pretty, simple, and gender neutral. I didn’t want it to be obviously male or female because it’s a class shirt that represents all of us. So it’s just a body, versus being a gender. For the front of the shirt I included a small design that references a man and woman, which represents our class as well. After I drew the body, I created a graphic design around that with all of our names and I did what I thought was aesthetically nice and mixed well with my style.
AM: How do you think your design represents our legacy as the class of 2016?
MS: I think we are complex and simple at the same time and I wanted that to be in the design. There are stronger lines and there are more delicate lines that could be taken as all the different people that make up our class. I think it’s a subtle, simple and pretty design, but it still has a little kick to it. It’s not just delicate and beautiful, it is kind of hunched and you can sense there is something more going on. It’s slightly tortured in a way, which I think fits our class in the best way. I also think it’s a design that would be an attractive shirt. I believe it’s important for our class to create good products and not just cute mementos.
AM: You also designed the shirts we made for our class freshman year. How would you compare the two?
MS: The shirt from our freshman year was made just for us and for our own personal enjoyment, whereas the shirts for our senior year are being made for a wider array of people. I believe that our shirt this year also has a more mature design because we have grown tremendously since freshman year.
AM: What did you learn from the process?
MS: When I create art, I don’t try to force people to feel a certain way. I just hope it makes people feel something, even if it’s different from the way I personally feel about it. I think it’s interesting to hear so many different opinions of one thing. I got to know our class even better and learned that everyone has a different aesthetic when it comes to analyzing someone else’s work. Designing the shirt for our class was fun and it was good practice for designing more shirts in the future.
It is an honor for the class of 2016 to feature Matilda’s design (shown below) on our Senior Production t-shirts that will be sold during Spring Concert, March 23rd through March 26th. We appreciate all of the time, effort, and energy she has put into this project. If you are interested in learning more about Matilda and her work, please visit matildasakamoto.tumblr.com. If you would like to buy a shirt and support Senior Production, please keep visiting our website for more updates and information about purchasing details.
Written by: Amanda Mortimore