One of the greatest parts of being a member of the Clark community, in my opinion, is having the opportunity to meet so many creative individuals actively pursuing their passions, bringing their ideas to life, and seeking to make a positive impression on the spaces they are in. One of these individuals, whose art is as colorful and joyful as her personality, is sophomore Wynne Dromey. 

As a highly involved student, Dromey majors in studio art and marketing, minors in entrepreneurship, competes as a member of the cross-country team and acts as the marketing manager for the Student Small Business Center and Clark Thrift Store. Alongside all of this, she also runs a small art business known as Colors of the Wynned, in which she sells her own custom and ready-made artwork.

Dromey found an interest in expressing herself through art early on in life, but high school is where her passion really began to take shape and evolve into the successful business she now has today. Fueled by the awe of others’ work, whether it was her peers or other artists who shared their art through online platforms, Dromey developed a desire to practice and improve her craft.  

As Dromey stated in an interview, “I had friends who were really good at it and I would go on Pinterest and I would see all of these amazing drawings and I really, really wanted to be able to do that, so I would just be practicing all the time and in my notes at school, I’d just be doodling and stuff like that.”

While art started as a hobby for Dromey, as she continued to create art and develop her abilities, others recognized her talent and expressed interest in her work. As noted by Dromey, this led to the founding of her art business Colors of the Wynned:

“As I kept doing it and getting better, people were telling me, ‘oh, you could probably sell that’ and ‘you should try and paint this or try that,’ so I just did even more practicing and that’s how my business started.”

Managing a small business is in itself a difficult endeavor. Pair that with a busy college course load, athletic schedule, and extracurricular involvement, and you can imagine the juggling that must take place to keep up with everything. While Dromey admits that balancing her priorities and finding time to create can be tough, she approaches this challenge with a positive outlook, viewing time as precious and making the most out of that which she has:

“At the end of the day, school comes first, but whenever I can have time to sneak in a painting or even just a sketch, I always cherish and am very grateful for that time. I think now that I have a few other things that are on my plate, I don’t have as much time to do my art, but it’s kind of like a fun challenge to see how much I can get done or how much I can create from day to day.”

Along with being grateful for the moments in her day when she can find the time to create, Dromey also expresses gratitude towards the art community and the support it has to offer. In the classes she has taken at Clark, as well as back home, she has been able to build networks with peers alike in their artistic passions and create lasting friendships in the process of sharing, collaborating, and motivating one another.

Social media has been another place where Dromey has been able to find community and build networks with other artists.

In describing the online art community, Dromey said “What’s cool is they’re all so friendly, the art community is really nice, so there have been times where I’ve reached out to other artists through Instagram DMs and they would actually respond and give me tips and feedback on my work.”

Sari Shryack, who goes by the username @not_sorry_art on Instagram, is an artist in the social media community who Dromey looks up to as a role model and whose bright, vibrant choices seem to inspire her own work. 

In regards to Dromey’s work, she enjoys acrylic paintings and portraits. In high school, for an AP project, she did a series of portraits of people who were meaningful to her and who had an impact on her life, many of which were friends and family. Each portrait was as unique as the individual it depicted, with an abstract background that represented and celebrated who they were. Dromey continued to carry her love for portraiture and appreciation of individuality through her work into college, painting many of her new friends and peers.

Recently, in addition to being inspired by different people around her, she has also been inspired by certain scenes and landscapes. “For example,” she described, “I was walking back from practice one day and the light was hitting this one house really pretty and there was a really nice tree draping over, so I stopped and took a little picture. Then, when I got back to my dorm, I did a sketch of it.”

Dromey, who is environmentally conscious, has also experimented with repurposing trash in her art and using it to add different layers of texture to her pieces:

“I noticed I would accumulate so many receipts and trash and wrappers for things, so I thought it would be fun to try and experiment by pasting them on the canvas and incorporating it into my work. So for a few of the pieces I created last year and over the summer, I took my trash (my receipts and my recycled materials) and pasted them on the canvas before painting on top of it. Some of them I painted on the canvas first and then pasted my trash and then painted again on top of that. I like to pick and choose what to cover up and what to reveal underneath, so that’s been lots of fun to experiment with.”

Place of Repose is an example of a piece by Dromey that incorporates trash, while also combining elements of portraiture and landscape and thus being representative of her unique artistic style. Created in her dorm room last year, Place of Repose depicts Dromey’s cousin Amy sitting in her backyard, a beautiful open green space, and sipping a cup of tea in a state of relaxation. It is an imitation of a photo that her cousin took of herself, also being an artist, that Dromey felt drawn to and compelled to paint.

In addition to being identified by Dromey as one of her favorite paintings she’s made, Place of Repose also gained recognition as a prize-winner at ArtWorcester’s Annual College Show last spring, and led to Dromey receiving an artist spotlight in the Worcester Public Magazine online. Along with these more recent achievements, Dromey also hosted an art show in a small gallery in the town over from hers right before Covid hit and one of her portraits, titled Sandra, was featured in a Springfield Museums exhibit called “This is Us.” 

While these accomplishments are certainly exciting, it is the opportunity to reach wider audiences and connect people through her art that seems to drive Dromey as she continues forward with her art. In looking to the future, she said “I just want to be able to spread my art to as many people as possible.”

Along with aiming to reach people through her art, Dromey also offers inspiring words of wisdom for others interested in pursuing art. When asked what advice she’d give to those starting out, Dromey stressed the importance of practice, consistency, and confidence:

“I think practice is a big thing and just keep going with it because just putting in a little bit of time every single day, even though it takes a while, you end up seeing so much improvement over a long period of time. Also, I’d say a big piece of advice is to stand by your work and be confident in it because the fact that you’re making an effort to try and do that in the first place is such a great achievement.”

To check out Dromey’s incredible work, perhaps even request a custom piece, and follow her creative journey, you can access her website at https://www.colorsofthewynned.com/about-5 or follow her Instagram @colors.of.the.wynned.