A Midlands high school senior can add national commissioned artist to her resume. A town in Louisiana wants her work to be the focus of their Black History Month celebration.
"This is just a big step for the rest of my life," Ija Charles said.
9 times out of 10, you can find the 17-year-old with a paintbrush in hand.
Her love of art came from a place of pain.
"I used to get bullied a lot so I used art as a way to get rid of all that, so I'd feel better. It's basically my happy place," she said.
Ija paints daily, whether it's for school, commissioned pieces, or just for fun. She normally posts her work on Instagram for all to see.
Recently, someone in her father's hometown was shown her profile.
"She saw my artwork and said she really loved it ," Ija said.
Ija was asked to create a painting for Houma, Louisiana's black history month celebration.
"I have light colored pieces at the top to show that it represents the bright minds and added red dots as well to show all that have actually fallen and got us to where we are at that point," Ija said. "I added a black man playing music from his trombone to show even besides fighting we still silently ended segregation through music."
The artwork will be made into a 60' x 30' banner that will hang in downtown Houma.
Ija says it's an honor to be chosen to represent black female artists, but says her work speaks for itself.
"When I do my art, people look past my color and focus more on the picture so it really doesn't matter, as long as I can get my intelligent visual voice through my art work, it doesn't matter," she said.
Ija was paid $800 for the painting, but decided to donate it all back to the town's Black History program. She'll head back to Louisiana at the end of the month for the banner unveiling.
