Limitless: Artist Tech Nix uses varied media to express their creativity, interests
Tech works on their Microsoft Windows Surface tablet to create her art. Tech posts much of her work on Instagram and her website.
March 12, 2021
Some people consider themselves painters, some photographers, and some specialize in drawing. Junior Tech Nix is all of them. Watercolor, spray paint, photography or drawing, Tech is not limited by a single medium.
“They were like, ‘I’m going to go big, I’m going to do spray paint, I’m going to do drawings,’” art teacher Sunny Neater said. “My best efforts were spent trying to get out of their way.”
In the two years since Tech was a ninth grader in Ms. Neater’s Mixed Media class, Tech’s ambition has taken off, using art as a way to express their interests, identity and opinions — and even resulting in the creation of their own art website and Instagram page.
Even though Tech had been creating art for about eight years, they only started sharing their work online on Oct. 22, 2020.
Their favorite media are digital art and watercolor.
“I really like the act of doing it, and I think it’s the creative outlet for me,” Tech said. “It’s my form of expression.”
Through art, Tech is able to express their interests, such as music, in a creative way.
“I also have interest in musical and lyrical stuff, and I think a lot of my art kind of centers around that,” Tech said. “So, in terms of music, I use a lot of lyrics, quotes and I guess like text, and that’s another thing that I find interesting.”
View this post on Instagram
On Oct. 28, 2020, Tech shared a post dedicated to asexual awareness week with a piece of art they created. Tech, who identifies as queer, said they have created more pieces relating to queerness that they have not yet shared.
View this post on Instagram
Ms. Neater said during that class two years ago Tech was always active and engaged in class discussions, something that does not always happen in her class with ninth graders.
“Tech was very much absorbing the world around them, integrating it and synthesizing it into their own identity, and then going forward with that,” Ms. Neater said.
According to Tech, political issues have also been an inspiration for some of their work.
“[Art] allows me a way to talk about certain issues or talk about things that I’m interested in,” Tech said. “Not anything that I’ve shared yet, but stuff that I’ve done previously have been about political issues: child soldiers, racism, things like that.”
View this post on Instagram
In art teacher Benjamin Jaffe’s classes, students create projects, share them with the class, and then the class discusses them. Mr. Jaffe said Tech’s work in AP 2D Art and Design has been thought-provoking for himself and his other students.
“Most people, when they’re doing an Illustrator image, they tend to just copy whatever their source material is, but that’s not really the case with Tech’s work,” Mr. Jaffe said. “Tech has this style where very often the face will be missing a feature, and you can imbue all kinds of meaning behind that. If there’s no mouth, it’s almost like that person has no voice, right? If there’s no eyes, it’s almost like they can’t see.”
View this post on Instagram
Whether it’s spray paint or digital illustrations, watercolor or photography, Tech continues to “go big.” Said Ms. Neater, “It doesn’t surprise me they’re doing really cool things.”
Below, listen to Tech describe two pieces of art that are significant to them.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
