Getting Sketchy With Artist Nadyia Duff

{Me by Nadyia Duff}

{Duff has got the right stuff}

I’ve been a Sketchy Miami  junkie — whose sole intrepid mission is to create a portrait of every person in Miami — since its inception. I’ve been sketchied by artists Erin Una and Nadyia Duff and with the recent launch of the Sktchy App, I wanted to interview Nadyia because I’m weirdly obsessed with her (Erin knows I love her, too, and I wrote about her a while back here). Without further ado, read my quirky  Q&A with Nadyia whom teaches Art at Orchard Villa Elementary School and Kelsey Pharr Elementary School and has BIG plans to open a chicken joint. For reals.

You hail from vibrant Jamaica, how has this influenced your aesthetic? I moved to Miami when I was around 5 years old, but the Jamaican art culture has influenced my style. I like to use the bright vibrant colors that you see in a lot of Jamaican artworks, for example, if I do a background in any of my portraits I like to use bright golds, yellows, neon greens, hot pinks, neon blues, etc.

You’re a paintbrush-wielding bad ass. What’s your secret power no one knows about? Ha! Thanks! I think I’ll use that term whenever someone asks me what I do for my hobby.  My secret power..that’s a tough one. If we are talking literally, then it’s that I can actually tell how my day is going to go based on my eye twitching. If it’s my left eye I know something will get me angry, if its right I will find out something good or maybe I’ve just convinced myself m superstitions are true. My catch phrase is, “The eye doesn’t lie!”

That’s cray. What painter, dead or alive, would you love to have dinner with? I would definitely love to have dinner with Jenny Saville. I love her portraiture work. I love all her work period.

What do you think about when you’re alone in your car? I think about what I plan and not plan to do that day, or what song to play so I can keep my mind off the crazy Miami traffic.

What song best describes your work ethic? It probably would have to be “I’m Just Sayin'” by Karmin.

Have you ever stolen a pen from work? Ha! No. When I started work I got a nice care tote with a large supply of pens and other school goodies.
 
Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it? Oh I don’t think I want to give that one away! Honestly I would like to open a chicken restaurant called “Duff’n Stuffed Chicken,”  where we serve only stuffed chicken and sides. Chicken stuffed with other animals — the whole works and then I would have  live art going on while my customers eat, and they can submit art if they please to hang on the wall called  “Show off your Stuff.” Copyright copyright!

Yessss. On a scale from one to 10, rate me as an interviewer: Definitely a 10! You’re amazing I am glad we found each other and I love these questions. It is quiet the honor to be interviewed by you!