Ansley Adams graduated from USC in 2012 and has since represented the university through her passion for creating and teaching art. She brought her artistry back to Columbia on Nov. 1 to premiere her solo exhibit "Weightless," highlighting female empowerment and transcendence.
Adams completed her undergraduate degree in art education, though when she graduated she did not want to start teaching right away. She decided to get her MFA in studio art. Her major was painting and her minor was drawing.
This past year has been a whirlwind for Adams, because both her teaching and art career have taken off.
“It’s just kind of weird that both have just opened up at the same time," Adams said. "Which just means I’ve been sleeping less, but I’ve been working really hard at both because I really care about both.”
Creating art is more than just a hobby for Adams. Painting is not secondary to her day job.
“For me I think in a lot of ways I love teaching and I love my job," Adams said. "But I’m very passionate about my work so I wouldn’t want to back burner it.”
Adams will wake up at 5 a.m. before work and work on her art for a few hours before she goes to teach. When she comes home and Adams continues to work on her art at night and on the weekends. Her dedication to both is strong, she keeps going and never sits still. Adams is enthusiastic about her artistry due to her need to express her message of female empowerment to the world through her work.
Adams described the subject matter of her work as the consistent thread between everything because she works in a variety of mediums. The subject then is figurative, and it is women who are empowered and proud of their bodies.
“People want to say, 'She’s really beautiful, even though she’s fat. Even though she’s overweight, she’s still beautiful,'" Adams said. "And it’s like, fat’s not the flaw, it’s not the thing that you’re pretty despite of. It’s part of who you are and it’s part of what makes you look the way you look, and make you the person that you are. And I think there’s really something beautiful in that.”
Adams wants to paint the unexpected, because she believes that is the most important.
Her art isn’t just the skinny, nude female figure that’s accepted in society as beautiful. It includes overweight women in nature. Most are surrounded by colorful greenery or flowers which adds to the femininity and female empowerment of the pieces.
Her biggest inspirations are all women as well, including Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe and Laura Aguilar.
“Especially the [women] who just started making work ... that was pushing boundaries of what was socially acceptable for women to make," Adams said. "Because I think that’s kind of where I see my work is it’s pushing against a norm.”
She is inspired by women who have pushed what she calls the patriarchal standard. Adams said she spent too long making work that wasn't truly hers just because people said it was what she should be doing.
Adams explained that creating "Weightless" took a lot of bravery on her own behalf.
“I was embarrassed that if I made art about my issues with weight that it would somehow make people see me as fat and somehow draw attention to my self-esteem issues, and in fact it has been the opposite," Adams said. "It's made me have so much more confidence and not care what people think, instead of letting that fear kind of have its way."
Adams said taking that leap of faith worked out, and she hopes it will for young aspiring artists as well.
“Don’t let anybody tell you what to do, do what you want to do. Make the art that you want to make and that you're passionate about,” Adams said. “If it scares you, that probably means you should be doing it.”
Adams now lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina, closer to family. She recently got her first full-time job as director of fine arts at South Piedmont Community College. She works full-time and still carves out time to create her own art to inspire women and display female empowerment.