By Jaymie Mordue
Amber Rodgers, 20, received a confidence boost when some of her work was published in a nationally known magazine ‘Backyard Poultry.’
A portrait Rodgers painted earlier this year was featured June/July 2018 issue of the magazine.
Rodgers, a Patrick native who attends Radford University, said she is proud that her work was deemed worthy enough to appear in a magazine that is featured all over the U.S.
She said her artistic interest and talent was discovered at a very young age.
“I remember when I was little, me, my mom and grandparents would sit down with a coloring book and just color, and I think that’s where it all started,” she said.
“I’ve always been a drawer, from such a young age, I would always just draw random stuff and it just developed into who I was,” she added.
Rodgers, currently a senior at RU, is majoring in art with a focus in photography.
She received two scholarships from the university. One of which is for her photographic prowess.
She has been taking pictures since she was 13 – a passion that Rodgers started to develop after her mother, Sylvia Conner, got her a simple camera for her birthday.
“I really like taking pictures of my grandpa because he’s a farmer and I like taking candid pictures of him doing his work,” she said, and added that she enjoys turning a photograph into work of art.
Although she enjoys photographing old buildings, farms and scenery, Rodgers said she is honored whenever friends ask her to photograph an event, and had the opportunity to photograph a friend’s wedding when she was only 15.
Photographs are pieces of history, according to Rodgers, who said that after taking a photo of an old abandoned farmhouse, she revisited the location a year later and found the house had been torn down.
“That’s kind of why photography is so important to me, it’s a way to preserve history,” she said.
Rodgers currently is enrolled in a painting class, which she enjoys because she said she feels her professor pushes her to her limit.
She has taken multiple drawing classes in which teachers have acknowledged her talent. The variety of those art classes has provided her with multiple opportunities to explore and express her artistic abilities.
When discussing her future desires and dreams in art, Rodgers said “I want to do something that is photography related, but I’m just not sure what that is yet. I’m hoping that school continues to open up doors for me.”
