Barnard first-year Joanne Raptis, BC ’16, paints landscapes, cartoons, and reimagined characters such as Vermeer's “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” among other things. She draws on the Columbia and online art community for criticism and as a result has a constantly evolving style. Spec sat down with her as part of our student artist series.
Shakirat Ibitola Oniyangi: How did you get involved in art?
Joanne Raptis: When I was in the 6th grade, my favorite cartoon character was Sonic the Hedgehog, and my cousins and I came up with the idea of drawing comics about him, so it all started with cartooning little comic strips and making our own little characters... so I started expanding into different kinds of cartoon characters and slowly expanded into different kinds of art and painting and more realistic drawings.
For a long time, my dream was to work at Disney Animation Studios, but I decided to go to Barnard instead of an art school because there are other parts of myself I want to develop as well before committing to anything.
SIO: How has Barnard influenced your style?
