Interesting People

CHELSI FIORE

Freshman, Art Foundation

CT: What’s up with the camera?

CF: It’s for my time studio class. Our teacher wanted a four-minute video. Didn’t really give us any guidelines, just four minutes. People are kind of my thing, so I thought I’d just go out and record a whole bunch of people as they walked by, and kind of have … like, mine and my friends conversations together, overlapping over it. Kind of make it a little confusing, but make it seem like … what the students are thinking.  Like what’s going through their heads and stuff.

CT: Far out.

CF: There’s a couple people that – I feel bad, because they don’t want to be filmed. And you see as they walk by as soon as they get in front of the camera, they (swoops hair over face), you know, turn their heads away. And then um, there was this guy that ran up and screamed at the camera and ran away … Like “raaar.” And then he ran away.

CT: Have people screamed at you a lot since you’ve been in Richmond?

CF: I had these two guys walk up to me on West Grace, and so … I don’t walk on West Grace by myself anymore. It was broad daylight and they were like, drunk. These two young guys and they just start walking on either side of me, and they’re like, “I like that death flower in your hair.” ‘Cuz I was wearing this black flower, and he was like “Black means death, right?” And they like just keep walking with me, and one guy is like, “You’re so white.” And I was like “yeah.” And he was like, “Well, I’m Native American, so I’m really tan.” And then the other guy, he was walking behind me, and he leans in really close, and he’s like, “You smell good.” And they’re like, “We’re not trying to rape you,” and they just walk off.

CT: I’ve been told Art Foundations is sort of like a boot camp. For artists.

CF: It kind of is. They put you through a lot of work, and they want you to put in a lot of time. It kind of weeds out anyone who’s … not gonna want to put in that much work. I know some people have dropped out because it’s just too much.

CT: Has anything so far caused any particular heartache?

CF: Well, I’d done most of the stuff before, I went to an art school for most of my life. But like, working in the woodshop … Like, I’d done that before, but it was so hard because I had like so little time to do it, and I could only go when it was open. I wound up putting in like every hour of my free time, spent on this one, like … curling (gesticulates) … piece that I did. Which turned out really cool, but it took so much time, and … it really taught me not to procrastinate, ever.

CT: This is going to be the CT’s last issue before Valentine’s Day.  Do you have any plans?

CF: I’ve never, ever had plans for Valentine’s Day. That’s just kind of how it’s always been. But um, I have a lot of, like, girlfriends this year. We’re gonna dress up, act like we have a hot date, go to Olive Garden and then go back to my friends apartment and then watch The Notebook and The (sic) Titanic. One of my friends hasn’t seen either of them.

CT: Do you find Leonardo DiCaprio significantly less attractive now than he was in Titanic? Be honest.

CF: (forlornly) I remember being five years old and having a crush on him. CT