“Throughout all my life, I’ve been drawn to the symbol of a tree. When I was 18, I actually got the tree of life tattooed on my back. It feels like I was meant to be here, in Oakland, the city represented by this symbol of an oak tree.”
Meet Cydney L., a talented young artist by way of Philadelphia, who participated in Dragon School’s recent collaboration with the Oaktown Half Marathon and Flax Art & Design to create Mile Markers for the race.
Cydney: I started drawing back in high school. I took a few college-level art classes and dove into different mediums of art. I also studied art history; that experience made me really excited and want to somehow integrate art into my career. As I went through college, I fell in love with digital marketing, which allowed me to be creative and think outside of the box. When I moved out to Oakland, I felt like I had taken a pause on art and decided I wanted to take any opportunity possible to be creative, collaborate, and get to know the people around me. The OakTown Half Marathon experience was a great way to do exactly that.
What’s the inspiration behind your OakTown Half Marathon mile marker?
Cydney: I personally don’t like running, but if you need an art piece for it, I’m totally down! I have some kind of obsession when it comes to trees. Throughout all my life, I’ve been drawn to the symbol of a tree. When I was 18, I actually got the tree of life tattooed on my back. It feels like I was meant to be here, in Oakland, the city represented by this symbol of an oak tree. Creating the mile marker was my first time using acrylic. I picked out the colors and painted the tree right in the middle of the canvas. I created the rest of the piece outwards from the center, doing whatever the paintbrush told me to.
How did you first hear about Dragon School?
Cydney: I first found out about Dragon School just walking around in Oakland with that eye for art. As I noticed gradually that so many murals were created by Dragon School, especially in Chinatown, I began looking for a new piece each time and posted it on Instagram. I started tagging the artists and eventually, Dragon School messaged me, inviting me to take part in one of the mural painting activities.
On Community & Collaboration
Cydney: To me, community means collaboration. When people come together and create something, it becomes art -- it becomes a masterpiece. In Philly, where I come from, there are community gardens everywhere; I’ve seen how they’re a great way to gather people and create something impactful together. I feel like oftentimes, there are lots of people that live on the same block who don’t even know their neighbors, or live in really segregated environments. We live with so many different types of people in Oakland, and community is about taking advantage of that.