A student becomes her own masterpiece through art and makeup

Junior painting major Angela Bachman expresses herself through art, not only on canvases, but also uses her face as a medium for her art.

Bachman grew up in a small town in Spring Grove where she went to a high school that made her feel like she stood out from the rest of the crowd. She said it didn’t have the best art program, so it made her even more interested in creating art. As she got more into her paintings and drawings, she realized that she didn’t want to have an average life or be ordinary. She began sneaking and wearing makeup when she was in middle school, because her parents didn’t allow her to wear makeup at the time, which made her more curious about it and experiment more. Today, her parents support her to the best of their ability but, they still don’t much care for her “self expression.”

“[My parents] support it, they just don’t understand it,” Bachman said. “I use my makeup just as any other medium in art—it is a source, an outlet, a way of communication; It’s a form of the self I choose to project when I want. I control how I want to look that day and that an empowering tool to use.”

Her looks are a filer as well as a statement. She wants people to be able to look at her for everything she is, not just by her gender or what she’s wearing, because she really hates when society sexualizes people. She wants them to actually see her for her self-expression and to look beyond what stereotypes first come to mind when people lay eyes on her.

The closest thing to Bachman is said to be her paintings, but she also feels that all of her art work feeds off of one another. A lot of her makeup is inspired from paintings she’s created.

She said she loves doing her makeup in creative ways because it boosts her confidence and she feels self empowerment from creating her expressions.

“I try to use cruelty free and vegan makeup brands as much as possible,” Bachman said. “The appreciation for something more than the mundane human experience is extremely comforting, fun and expressive.”

She said her art is “not a mask.” Bachman makes it very clear that people should do self expression not for anyone else but for themselves. She becomes her own masterpiece through art and makeup.

Bachman really feels that art is limitless and she one day hopes to be a free lance worker and be her own boss. More than anything, she hopes to be able to inspire others to be themselves and not to ever be scared to express themselves, however that may be.

She wants whatever she creates to give a deeper message and meaning to her audience. Being the center of attention has never been her goal. Her paintings are inspired by how she’s feeling, and she has a great work ethic for creation. She sees how a lot of people aren’t motivated enough, especially artists and she wants that to change.

Most of her art work are self portraits, even though it’s not actually pictures of her. Bachman feels as though everything she creates tells a part of her in some way, and she sells her beautiful art work to others to help inspire them as well.

She said she’s very interested in doing a Shockra study on people to get a better understanding of how they feel and why exactly they feel that way. She wears certain colors to see people’s reaction that day. She wants to know exactly why people feel uncomfortable looking at her and if it’s a personal or mental issue. When people first approach Bachman, she usually only gets one of two reactions: some people may be freaked out, but others are very fascinated with what they see.

When people do finally get to meet her, they realize she’s nothing like they thought she’d be based off of her looks, she said. She’s had some parents pull their kids away from her as well as some kids running up to her to give her a compliment.

“They either love me, or hate me,” Bachman said.