Meet Dylan Griggs | Fine Artist & Art Student

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dylan Griggs and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dylan, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
My name is Dylan Griggs and I am from Panola Road, Lithonia, Georgia. My background and upbringing is a big part of who I am because it made me who I am today. Lithonia is a small town about 25 minutes east of Atlanta. Its poverty rate is 206% higher than the rest of the United States. It’s a town that pushes you to be successful by any means necessary. Because, if you’re not successful, you may end up stuck in the boondocks for the rest of your life.

It’s a town where everyone knows everyone. Networking is a skill that you have to know to become a “somebody” here. Lithonia is connected by a culture that can be very loving and very unforgiving at times. This culture can often be seen in my subject choices for my art. Afros, taper fades, cornrows, locs – these are all frequently include in my artwork because it’s all that I have ever known for my whole life.

This is a city that taught me how to hustle. The thing about hustling is that its only done by those who have drive. Hustlers will put theirselves out there by any means necessary to become successful. I am a hustler. Lithonia taught me how to use what I have around me to achieve my goals – even if it is very little. I was not able to have access to high quality art materials at a young age because of the lack of art shops and creative outlets in the area. This taught me how to think outside of the box and use what I could to create stunning art similar to what I would see on the family computer. I was able to create good art with a regular #2 pencil and a scrap of notebook paper. By the time I began using a wide assortment of specialized art materials, my work became flawless.

Lithonia is also very southern so it’s expected that you are taught manners here. Even if you weren’t taught manners from your parents, someone in the neighborhood would teach you how to address others. “Yes, ma’am.” “No, ma’am” “Yes, sir.” “No, sir.” Manners have taken me a long way in my personal and professional life and I am happy that that is apart of the climate that I have grown up in.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art is an extension of me. It grows and changes with me. Whatever I feel, I represent in my artworks. I consider my artworks to be portals into my soul and spirit. When I create art, I feel as if I am in a safe space – untouchable and unreachable by the rest of the world. My favorite type of pieces that I create are the five foot tall drawings that you can explore and completely get lost in.

Sometimes, I’m still amazed by the amount of progress and improvement that I have made since I started creating back when I was around the age of four. A drawing that seemed impossible to me back then is something that I complete for fun now which is a blessing. Along with my God given talent, I would say that without practice, I would not be the artist that I am today. I never gave up, even when my art was in the “ugly” phase. I would always look at the my artworks and looks for minor ways to improve for next time.

The hardest part of my journey to where I am right now was deciding to stick with art. Picking the Savannah College of Art & Design as my place of professional studies was the biggest decision that I could have made for my art career. At first my own head was filled with uncertainty and doubt. “Am I going to make a good high paying career out of this?” “What if my art is not good enough?” “Maybe I should have become an engineer.” These were the thoughts that clouded my mind before I began my studies to further my art career. And for a second, I almost talked myself into dropping my art career for a career that I had no interest in for the sake of guaranteed financial security, but I believe that sticking with art is one of the best decisions that I have ever made. There are endless job opportunities and ways to improve not just your artworks, but yourself as a human being while in a professional art setting.

Ever since I decided to take any art career seriously, I have learned about the importance of branding and networking. In my opinion, your brand is the difference between a professional artist and a casual artist. Your brand is like what you would wear to an important job interview. You would not go to an interview in a tee shirt and jeans. You would make yourself presentable so that you would be able to impress the interviewer.

In art school, you must be willing to learn from your peers as much as possible in order to improve your own artwork. There are infinite methods to create good art and not one person knows every single method. You must put yourself out there and ask what makes other’s works successful so that you can grow from them as much as possible.

My business, Griggs Gallery, is sparked from creativity. The idea of translating what’s in your mind and putting it on paper. It is the idea of visualizing what cannot be explained in words.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are three places that come to my mind when I think Atlanta: Little Five Points, Piedmont Park, and Slutty Vegan.

Little Five Points is one of the liveliest areas in Atlanta! Each shop and diner is painted with individuality and the people are even more expressive. I would take a visiting friend here to give them the definitive Atlanta experience. There are many specialized and vintage thrift shops that I often find myself in for hours on end. There are record stores that holds music from Atlanta’s most influential artists. Not to forget the diners, gift shops, smoke stores, tattoo parlors and so much more.

Piedmont Park is where you want to be for a nice relaxing day. If you want to toss a football, scooter around the fields, or even just enjoy wildlife, then there is no better place to be. It is also connected to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens which is such a beautiful place to be.

Slutty Vegan is not just a restaurant for delicious vegan alternatives, but an experience in itself. You will never find customer service as good as what you experience at Slutty Vegan. And yes- the food is delicous!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to shoutout to my drawing professor, Fikriye Ozmeral. Fikriye Ozmeral was my professor at the Savannah College of Art & Design. She is one of the biggest influences of my recent artworks. There has been a noticeable improvement in my work ethic and the quality of my works since I have completed her courses. She is a professor that understood my potential and how much push that I needed to reach it. Along with that, she is also a very sweet and caring person.

Professor Ozmeral reintroduced me to one of my favorite art mediums – charcoal. Before I arrived at SCAD, I had experimented with charcoal before in some of my older works, but I did not know how to properly utilize it to its fullest. Professor Ozmeral pushed me to use charcoal for not just backgrounds and objects, but for portraits, too. She taught me how to use the darkest blacks of charcoal to highlight the brightest whites of the paper which creates a nice contrast in my artworks.

For my final drawing in her Drawing 1 course, we were tasked to create a self portrait of ourselves from at least the shoulders up. At first I was going to draw myself from my waist up but Professor Ozmeral wanted me to draw a life size 5 foot drawing of myself instead because she knew what I was capable of, even when I was unsure of myself. Sure enough, I successfully created the life size charcoal drawing of myself within only 2 weeks.

I would not be in the position that I am in without her guidance throughout my freshman year at the Savannah College of Art & Design.

Socials:
Instagram: @fikriyeoz.art
Website: https://www.fikriyeoz.com/

Website: https://griggsgallery1.wixsite.com/griggs-gallery

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/griggsgallery1/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-griggs/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/griggsgalleryd/

Image Credits
Azalea Jwow