Found My People

Written by Rowan Líadan Cariddi-Matthews

Rowan is 10 years old and received her first Seeds scholarship in 2023. 

My name is Rowan Líadan Cariddi-Matthews. I’m 10 years old, and in 5th grade. I started studying at the Art Students League 3 years ago, when I was 8.

My first class was with Alison Causer.  When my mom picked me up, I said, “I’ve found my people.” Since then I’ve also taken classes with Susan Cirigliano and Sonomi Kobayashi. I’ve studied painting, drawing, perspective, shading, sculpture, color theory, and figure drawing. My favorite project so far was a figure sculpture that we began with wire and foil to build up the body shape, and then used air-dry clay to make it smoother, add the features, etc. I really enjoy having live models in class.

Since studying at the ASL the things I’ve improved in the most are shading, perspective, and human features. I also enjoyed helping Ms. Susan set up our art show last year—I really enjoyed seeing all the different kinds of artwork and seeing how an art show gets set up.

I hope to study more sculpture in the future and improve my drawing techniques, blending and shading, and do more figure drawing.

I’m very grateful to be able to study at the Art Students League, not only because of what I’ve learned from my teachers, but because of the friends I’ve made and all the art skills I’ve learned from them – everything I’ve learned has really improved my technique over the years I’ve been there.