Into the Mind of an Artist

Dancing, drawing, writing, painting.

For StarDaysha Santos, a sophomore at Saint Peter’s University, -- these activities are second nature, but with many artistic influences around her, how could they not be?

“Everybody in my family does art. My mom, my dad, my grandparents,” said Santos.

She said that this made a big impact on her involvement in art. She joined the Jersey City Mural Arts Program when she was almost 16 and says she began there as a paid prodigee. Now, at the age of 19, she has made it to the Teacher Assistant position. During her first years in the program, Santos was taught the basics of using and applying spray paint, which was not always the easiest task to complete.

“Honestly, using spray paint at first is really difficult...but after four years I got used to it,” said Santos.

The first two years of Santos’ time at the Jersey City Mural Arts Program were typical. She says that each year a topic is assigned. Her first year the theme for murals was animals. The second year was not very different when the mural topic was sea life.

According to Santos, each mural takes about six weeks to complete, which includes two weeks of planning and four weeks of painting. After working with the program for two years, Santos thought it was time to bring her ideas to the table. She wanted to paint a mural on a topic that could mean something more to the people that reside in the Jersey City community -- anti gun violence.

“I literally begged my boss to do an anti gun violence mural,” said Santos. “I thought it would be really important for the youth of the city to participate in an anti gun violence mural,” said Santos.

Santos says that Jersey City contains many youths that get involved in gangs, and are negatively influenced by older people. She wanted a mural to address this -- to show the youth that they are not alone. The mural referred to as “How Many Lives,” was later turned into a film, and won a Golden Film Festival Award. It is located on West Side in Jersey City near the Light Rail.

While working for Jersey City on murals, Santos met many people. Maryam Jamal is currently a student painter in the program. Jamal says that working with Santos is interesting, and that when they began working together, Santos taught her everything she knew with a lot of encouragement. The two have worked together for four years now.

“She puts her utmost effort in all the things she does and to top it off she does it happily,” said Jamal.

Abimalec Barreras, a freelance artist in the program said Santos puts a lot of pride into her work, which has allowed her to progress further.

“She is a wonderful and kind soul who is very outgoing and eager to help those around her,” said Barreras. “She motivates and uplifts those around her...breaking barriers and eliminating all negativity. She is an amazing person to work with.”

The two have been working together for five years now, and Barreras says she is not just a boss, but she is a leader who cares about her peers. Other than working on murals for the past few years of her life, Santos says she also dabbles in commission work.

“I paint in people’s houses. I do renovations. I refurbish shoes. I make clothes,” said Santos.

These kind of jobs do not pay by the hour, but come on a customer to customer basis.

Santos says if a person wanted her to paint a wall in their home, or design a shoe, or piece of clothing to be unique, she does it. She says she enjoys doing a lot of art because it is very relaxing.

“It’s therapeutic,” said Santos. “It’s something you do because it makes you feel good,” said Santos.

She says she uses her art mainly for self expression, and got into it to do just that. One of her goals is to create a mural that is one of the biggest in Jersey City.

“I want to make my own wall, and I want to make it big,” said Santos.

She has also been involved in art shows previously; this includes the art show that Saint Peter’s University held recently, and a few that were organized within the Jersey City program. Santos plans on continuing her work as an artist and intends to continue making murals

Being an artist is who she is, and she will carry it with her wherever she goes.

“Be yourself. Work hard, and don’t let anybody take credit for your concepts,” said Santos.

Author Note: Photo Courtesy of Stardaysha Santos