Down to a Fine Art

One might not know just by looking at Zayin Dilworth ‘16 that he’s an artist. That is, until one’s eyes happen upon his paint-spattered shoes. In late December and early January, Dilworth was approached by United Action for Youth (UAY) about having his art displayed in their March 4th showing.

“Usually I’m very hard on myself about my artwork, but when somebody says we want you to put your art in our art show, it changes your whole mindset,” Dilworth said. “Maybe my art is good.”

Last month Dilworth’s art was on display at the UAY Art Show. But he did more than just showcase his work – he actually sold two of his pieces.

“It felt great, I’m not going to lie,” Dilworth said. “After months of work on these art pieces I was really proud of myself. And it made me even happier to see that someone came in and appreciated my art enough to buy it. After they bought it and walked away, I just acted like a fool. I was jumping up and down cheering, clapping my hands, praying, saying thank you. It was the highlight of my school year.”

Dilworth’s journey to professional artist status has been long. He has had a penchant for artistry since he was very young.

“When I first started getting serious [about art] it was probably fourth grade,” Dilworth said. He would use Bendaroos to form characters he saw on TV.

“I would sit down and take my time, and I would sculpt them all out… I’d capture every single detail that I could.”

Dilworth’s career has been characterized, in part, by his desire to try new things and be different. Last year he added a new medium to his repertoire.

“The next step that I took [in my art career] was trying something new,” Dilworth said. “I needed something to sculpt. I liked clay but that wasn’t really my style, so I decided to use wire.”

This school year, he again expanded his repertoire of media.

“I was kind of getting tired of wires and sculpting,” Dilworth said. “I wanted to try something new I hadn’t done before. I happened to see some paint and this all-white paper, and I took my paintbrush and started splashing down. And as I was splashing down, I started to see something that wasn’t there.”

With that, Dilworth became an abstract painter. Though his inspiration comes primarily from his experiences and emotions, he also drew inspiration from Pollock, Picasso, and other abstract painters.

“It was their own style, it was what they considered art. Art is what you make it to be. That’s how I came up with the concept that no art is terrible. All art is beautiful, even if you do a little scribble you can find some kind of meaning in that because it was in your mind and you put it on a piece of paper. With this type of art I was able to express some creativity I never knew I could express. It was something I couldn’t say in words that I had to show you through this painting,” Dilworth said.

Paint is now Dilworth’s favorite medium to work with. He had several paintings at the art show.

Daphne Foreman, a City High English teacher and lover of the arts, attended the art show and bought one of Dilworth’s pieces.

“I just thought it had the right balance of lightness and darkness,” Foreman said. “It evoked a million possible different stories. I thought it was kind of brilliant that way. Immediately striking and brilliant in looking at it carefully too.”

Dilworth has been creating art for a long time, but his career is only beginning.

“I definitely want to see how far my art can take me,” Dilworth said. “If I could just get my art into a museum, a real recognized art museum, that would probably be the highlight of my career.”