Art Major Marcella Sinclair Paints Human Relationship for Capstone

Art is a form of communication, enabling us to understand one another and empathize in a way that makes us all human. Senior fine art major Marcella Sinclair explored this avenue of her art by painting a series of 22 pieces for her capstone that showcased people who have impacted her life. 

She began brainstorming for this series of paintings in July 2017, and it finally found its way to Westminster’s art gallery this month. She showcased her family members, friends and other people who have shaped her life experience to portray her reactions to these relationships on canvas.

“It just showed me how much art can affect people because when you paint or draw someone it can be through feelings of malice, but in most cases, it is through admiration,” she said. “It really was just hard having to reopen old wounds and recognize my own faults while painting some of these portraits.”

This was Sinclair’s first, cohesive set to be featured, but other solo pieces of hers have been showcased at art shows in the Youngstown area. In the end, her goal was to help her viewers get an understanding of the people she portrayed in her capstone pieces.

Having been inspired by filmmaking artists such as Guillermo Del Toro, Stephen King and Steven Spielberg, Sinclair learned to tell a story with every portrait, landscape, stamp or chalk drawing she designs. To her, this realistic way of portraying art is her favorite because she can encourage people to not just see her painting but to also experience it. 

“It’s kind of like when you’re out in public. You see someone, they just catch your eye and you think about exactly the kind of person they are, what they’re doing today, what kind of life they’ve had. I want people to experience that when they see my work,” she said.

Sinclair has toyed with the idea of starting a wall mural business after graduating. Nonetheless, she plans to continue producing artwork so that she can gain more recognition and impact more people with her work. 

“Art is what gives humans the ability to understand other humans better, whether it’s their feelings or beliefs they’re trying to get across; it can do what words sometimes can’t.”  

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