A BYU illustration student’s work is helping to showcase the program as one that challenges, strengthens, and provides students with a context that allows them to develop a personal voice.
Miranda Meeks credits her soon-to-be alma mater as the springboard for her recent success. Since coming to BYU, she has worked with clients like Popshot Magazine, Spirituality & Heath Magazine, Diesel Apparel and Issimo Productions. “The art program here at BYU is so inspiring! It gives us more to work with than what traditional art schools offer because of the interactions with other majors and programs,” Meeks said. “The spiritual aspect of the school has also helped me view my art differently.” Meeks’ art has been featured and honored in a number of different exhibitions over the past two years. In fall 2014 she participated in Light Grey Art Lab’s Skate or Die exhibition in Minneapolis, MN. At the same time, two of her works were included in Gauntlet Gallery's Digital Renaissance exhibit, and another piece featured in a front-page linked article on ConceptArtWorld.com in April 2014. In 2013 her piece, The Gardener was selected by a panel to be printed in American Illustration 32, a national competition selecting only 369 of 8,742 entries to be included in the hardcover annual published worldwide, with winning works also appearing on The Archive at ai-ap.com. When asked how she balances school, work and being a mom, Meeks encouraged persistence. “It gets hard trying to balance work and life, but if you just keep working at it things will pick up,” Meeks said. “For me, it helps not trying to be all things at the same time. When I’m working, that’s what I’m doing. When my girl’s awake, then I’m being a mom.” Meeks’ work contains soft and detailed drawings, beautiful images, and subjects of mystery, growth, and transformation. Owing much of her inspiration to the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, she hopes that others will be able to recognize the beauty behind mystery. After graduation Meeks plans to continue her career as an illustrator, in addition to being a wife and mother.