Courtesy of Paul Gandy
Avery Cordray started painting when she was 6 years old in the studio of her home in Houston, but it wasn’t until her freshman year at Ole Miss that she realized her dream career as a painter.
“I’ve been selling a lot but it comes in waves so I’m starting to see how difficult it’s going to be to keep that creativity and keeping a side job that’s taking a lot out of me,” Cordray said.
Since graduating from the University’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program in May, Cordray has launched her career and is beginning to understand the challenges artists face.
“I came here and went pre-med, which is absolutely hilarious, and then I took my first biology class and failed it,” Cordray said. “I started taking some art classes because they sounded really subjective. Like, how do you really fail art? Then I figured out I wanted to be in the (BFA) program cause I was really having fun.”
The BFA program is extremely rigorous. In order to enter the program, students first have to go through an interview process to be considered. Additionally, once students are accepted, each semester they undergo staff reviews assessing their artwork and future in the program.
“You have to interview in front of, like, 20 staff members. They ask you a bunch of scary questions. I didn’t get in the first time. I cried, tried again the next semester and got in, probably because they felt bad,” Cordray said.
However, Cordray said the program really pushed her to let go and fulfill her dream of becoming a painter.
“I think that’s how I became an artist, I figured out I really wanted to do this and pretty much just started out this childish dream I’ve had,” Cordray said. “It definitely encouraged me. I made a lot of connections and friends and learned a lot.”
Many of the people in the fine arts program became huge influences in her life and on her artwork. Cordray explained the connection she gained with everyone she worked with in the school’s shared studio space.
“Phillip Jackson was the department head of painting and my advisor and my best friend. He’s an amazing painter, like, the opposite of what I do,” Cordray said. “He was my teacher, advisor and confidant for four years. He was my biggest influence.”
Aside from the academic community, Cordray said she gets a lot of influence from colors she sees in the real world.
“I see colors all the time that I take pictures of and I paint shapes. That’s it. Nobody else can do it,” Cordray said jokingly.
Cordray has participated in Oxford’s Makers Market the past two years, an arts festival allowing artists to set up tents around the courthouse on the Square.
Because people don’t go out looking for massive tapestry paintings, Cordray feels like she hasn’t really targeted her market.
“Oxford is a lot of interior art except for, like, the academic community in Ole Miss. That’s where it’s more refined and becomes more of a fine art rather than just about filling a house with paintings,” Cordray said.
Many of Cordray’s paintings are currently hanging in the Powerhouse, and will be for sale during a reception on July 27. Yalobusha Brewing Company has sponsored the event and Will Griffith will be playing.
Cordray explained her doubts as to whether she could make a life-long career out of painting, because as she sees it, no new continents of art can be discovered, allowing an artist to really blow up.
“This generation is a culmination of all generations previous, so it’s going to be hard to shock people nowadays, I guess,” Cordray said. “I do want inspiration, though. I want to get out of Oxford because it has gotten kind of Punxsutawney, if you will.”
