Violet Patrich is choked with SFU.
The Dr. Charles Best secondary graduate was accepted into the Burnaby school's contemporary arts program but didn't have the marks to get into the institution itself.
"It really sucked," the 18 year old said plainly, with her head down. "They were like, 'We want you but you have to get into SFU first.'"
Patrich took the news in stride and instead signed up for psychology and women's studies courses this fall at Douglas College in New Westminster, where she lives.
"You know, it's okay, because it's important for me to focus on content as well for my art. It all ties in together."
And Patrich does spend a lot of time thinking - and dreaming - about her craft and how it provokes thought.
Earlier this year, she entered three photographs into Emerging Talent XV, an annual festival at Coquitlam's Evergreen Cultural Centre that highlights artwork from Grade 12 students in School District 43. All three pieces - titled Barbie, Bomb Shelter Beauty and People of Ash - centered on self-image and/or media perception.
The submissions won her a gold from ECC staff not to mention high praise from the facility's visual arts manager.
"Violet's photographs display a great sense of depth and maturity," Astrid Heyerdahl said. "The complex worlds and scenes she creates are provocative and exceptionally relevant; branching different realms and topics while captivating audiences with their alluring aesthetic."
In April, Patrich won more recognition after capturing the top prize at the Garbage Fashion Show at Heritage Woods secondary. Her "transit dress" was made with 2,700 fare transfers, recycled chicken wire and six hula hoops.
"Everything that I do usually takes weeks of planning," she explained. "I sketch ideas down as soon as they pop into my head, then I talk to friends about it."
Most of the time, her best friend Siena Locher-Lo is involved in the projects. Once, Patrich used her and her boyfriend to re-create the scene of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in bed; in another occasion, Patrich covered her with pig organs, pinned down with tags to resemble a science experiment. "You could say it was a statement against animal cruelty," she said.
Pushing the envelope comes naturally for Patrich: Her father is a former art gallery owner; one brother paints while the other is a musician; also, her uncles and aunts are artistically inclined.
"Our whole family is very involved," she said. "I grew up with art my entire life. We had pictures on the wall of nudes and I never thought anything about it. My friends would come over and say, 'What's that? It's so weird' but I would say, 'It's not. It's art'.... My parents took me to art galleries and exhibits when I grew up so I got a good feeling for it all."
Still, it wasn't until Best that she took her skill more seriously.
At the Coquitlam high school, she spent hours in the graphics room to create and to bond with art peers.
And on weekends, she used the school camera to experiment "in odd locations," she said.
These days, Patrich likes to flip through the pages of Vogue to garner story ideas for her photos.
"They have these really elaborate creations that come out so beautiful," she gushed. "I guess, that would be my big dream: magazine or commercial work. Something that will really challenge my imagination every day."
