Moonlighting Volume 1: Varuchii

Since this is my first article for what I hope will be a long running blog project of mine, I feel the need for some short preamble, bare with me. While my blog, Chestnut Words, will also feature my own creative and non-fiction writing, I am also starting a series of interviews, Moonlighting, featuring interesting, passionate people who are pursuing their dreams. From artist, writers, to those outside the box, if you have a passion or dream you are pursuing I want to talk to you about it!

Without further ado, may I introduce you to Moonlighting’s first artist: Varuchii.

Varuchii, also known as Emily Allis, is a local San Jose artist and native. Varuchii draws her inspiration from the community around her. From the utility art box projects popping up all around the Bay Area to the plethora of museums, Varuchii has always felt drawn to the art scene in the area. As San Jose develops its own distinctive artistic identity that rivals the more established art scenes of Oakland and San Francisco, so to is Varuchii developing her own identity as an artist.

Currently Varchuii studies Digital Art and Animation: Entertainment Design Emphasis at Cogswell College, also located in San Jose. She dreams of one day turning the skills she learns at Cogswell into a career at Blizzard Entertainment, working on the World of Warcraft franchise as an object, item, and icon designer.

One of Varuchii’s earliest art memories is receiving her first set of Pentel markers from Costco at the age of 7. As she recounts the memory, there is still the child-like gleam of joy in her eye:

Back when my biological parents were still married we used to go to Costco to do a lot of the grocery shopping. Of course, even back then Costco had everything from food to books to toys, and I loved looking at all of that stuff. I was looking at their piles and piles of books, and then I saw the Prismacolor marker set sitting in the pile next to the one I was going through. My eyes lit-up and my little heart started pounding immediately, and I began clutching the box.

Usually at this point, my mother would immediately dismiss the purchase as impossible for a multitude of reasons that were outside of my comprehending, but for whatever reason she wavered this time.

She peered down at me with squinted eyes, glaring at the markers.

“You really want that, huh?” She asked me.

I nodded feverishly, clutching it even tighter to my chest.

“OK, you can get them, but you have to take care of it or you won’t get anything like this again.”

I nodded my promise and clutched the markers in awe and disbelief throughout the rest of the shopping trip. I could barely give them to the cashier to ring them up.

While the Pentel markers are still well loved and in the same original packaging as they were 20 years ago, Varuchii quickly moved beyond them and expanded to graphite and colored pencils, which then lead to pastels and oils.

Varuchii tells me excitedly:

I am really looking forward to branching out into sculpture next semester, and soon I hope to start resin casting DnD dice and tchotchkies. I am also looking forward into getting into doing portrait sculpture of real people and video game characters, which I hope will eventually lead to more commissioned work.

When I ask her what her favorite medium, she thinks for a minute and gleefully expresses:

All of them!

Varuchii is very adamant that she “doesn’t want to be trapped to just one medium, and wants to get to know them them all. They each have such vastly different personalities, and are fascinating to work with.”

While describing her own art as “realism with a hint of self-expression,” she admits that she would like to move into more imaginary, surrealist scenes and pursue Baroque style painting. She draws much of her inspiration from some of her favorite artists such as, Gail Potocki, Tim Burton, Dahli and would like to emulate their surrealist style with her own twist.

When I ask her about what her process includes, she answers with no hesitation:

Loud music, solitude, intravenous coffee, sage smudge, and weed.

I ask Varuchii if she has ever been as passionate about anything as she is about art:

Before I was able to take myself as an artist seriously, I was into cooking a lot, and especially baking. There is definitely room to express yourself with baking and cooking, but it felt limiting when I wanted to express my more negative emotions. I mean, nobody wants a sad/rage cupcake. Although there might be a market for rage cakes haha.

Varuchii goes on to say of art:

I love the feeling that I get when I am able to get the line or shadow just right, that makes the piece pop, that’s what gives it life. I haven’t gotten a feeling like that from anything else.

As I look through Varchuii’s work it is clear that she has a keen eye and the incredible ability to reproduce what she sees in life. It is no surprise that she already has a long-term installation located on the De Anza College in the Meditation Room entitled Rebirth.