Noah Scalin, Virginia-based artist and creator of Skull-A-Day, inspired students Tuesday night to never be afraid to try in life. He encouraged students to do what they are passionate about, because it is that passion that will lead to success in life.
For Scalin, that passion was creating art. After seeing the original “Star Wars” as a child, he became addicted to creating and “being the guy behind the scenes”. However, it was not until six years ago that Scalin created the blog that launched him into the success he experiences today.
The blog, Skull-A-Day, started with an orange paper skull, and an idea- to create a new piece of skull-themed art every day for a year. Soon, people around the world were following the blog and submitting their own pieces of skull artwork. Continuing to see and make skulls in his everyday life, Scalin said he is inching close to having created 1000 skulls.
“The skulls itself is something that makes you think of your own mortality- but not in a way that makes you depressed but more ‘Wow, I have a short time on this planet so what am I going to do today? How am I going to live my life more fully?’” Scalin said of his choice of subject, “It’s the perfect symbol for what I was interested in and what I am doing. But I’m not that smart and I didn’t know that that was what I was doing at first. It was just something that I happened to like and was passionate about.”
Scalin also spoke to the students about not keeping their work or passion hidden until their projects were done. He said there is never a ‘right’ time to unveil a collection because there is always something that may stand in the way or the pieces may never be quite perfect.
“The sooner you get something out there, the sooner you get a return on that investment,” he told the audience as his displayed some of the original 365 skulls for them. “There is a lot of this fear with putting things out in the world but, what I have seen, the benefits far outweigh the risk. If I had gone another route and waited until I was done to put it in a gallery, I would not be here right now.”
Those words resonated with the students and inspired them to go and create their art for the world. Robin Lyons, a junior majoring in Graphic Design, left the presentation with the aspiration to be more like Scalin.
“This inspired me to be creative more often like his Skull-A-Day project. If you try this creativity every day, you just get better and better and it affects every aspect of your life, not just your art,” Lyons said. “He is a really awesome guy and I really aspire to have the success like he does in the future.”
Before the presentation finished, Scalin and visual arts professor, Jennifer Venn, had one more surprise for the students. Starting at 9:00 a.m. today in the Visual Arts lobby, Scalin and any student who wants to join, will be creating a new skull made out of recycled paper. Students do not have to have a background in art to be a part of this project, just the desire to be creative.
“Being creative isn’t only for artists or only for the lucky few.” Scalin said, “This is a problem that is encouraged in our society. The term ‘creative’ is scary. It sounds like art, but it is really about inspiration and ideas that lead to innovation.”
