By Erin Furman

Name: Christina Makrakis

Year: Senior

Major: Fine Arts

How would you describe your collection?

My newest body of work, “Superficial,” consists of everything I’ve been sweating out from this past January onward. This mixed-media concentration focuses on the physical capability for one to heal despite hardship, nontraditional beauty, individuality and identity discovery, as well as learning to accept and embrace the world around you for what it is. All of the materials I’ve worked on for this were found, not bought, and therefore range from metal to foam core.

How did you get started as an artist?

I find this a hard question to answer. I have no idea if I can even call myself an “artist” yet. There is still so much to learn, but I guess I could say for now that my creative side started to come out when I was about ten years old. I used to love making acrylic replicas of Greek Orthodox icons and making sketches from images in popular magazines.

What are your inspirations?

For this particular show, I would say my biggest inspirations would have to be Robert Rauschenberg, abstract expressionist art, street/guerrilla art, skin imperfections, the ability to heal and move on, designs or patterns created on surfaces from natural aging processes or residues and although it’s so cliché, life: life in general.

What activities are you involved in?

Aside from helping run this FORM Student Gallery, I work at the Hofstra Museum as an assistant, and I am also a Spanish tutor for the Hofstra Tutorial Program.

What do you hope to do after graduation? Will art continue to be a big part of your life?

Aside from continuing to make art, I hope to spend some time working in galleries in New York City, assisting in other artists’ studios, traveling and volunteering in developing communities of Latin America and eventually achieve a Masters in Fine Arts Education or Museum Studies. But to be completely honest, I’m up for anything at this point. I just want to always be creatively active, learning, giving and meeting people who want to do the same thing.