Everyone sees the world differently through their own eyes. Each person is entitled to their own perception of what they see or feel is beautiful to them. Yet, only a select few can successfully show their interpretations of the beauty they perceive using their own form of art.
Art isn’t just something you wake up and decide to do. It’s not conformed to any one style or type or genre. It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what will become one’s style. For Sally “Sonders” Millon, 20, art was something that came naturally.
Millon has always had a toe dipped in the metaphorical pool of art.
“I’ve grown up in the arts since I was a little girl,” Millon said. “My family was musically talented which influenced me to learn to play the guitar. I loved journaling which opened the pathway for me to write and perform original spoken word poetry pieces in high school. But what was very foundational to my art passion was drawing all throughout elementary.”
Throughout the years of pursuing many different forms of art, it took a hiatus from the form for drawing for Millon to find her niche. “I continued drawing in my sophomore year of college when I took an art class at La Sierra University, instructed by Tim Musso,” Millon said. “From this class, my drawing passion was once again rekindled and still flaming to this day.”
With every artist, it takes time and patience to learn what art style resonates with who they are. With a renewed sense of style, Millon worked on creating her own art style and what her style would represent. “My art style would be defined as fine arts, specifically line art,” Millon said. Line art is any form of art that depicts clear usage of straight or curved lines. Line art can be interpreted as just working with one continuous line, using lines as for shading, using lines for two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects. Line art plays a very important role in many different forms and styles of art. With her strength in line art, Millon was able to take her work one step further into making it her own original style: Millon’s portraits are facial expressionless.
“I think what sets me apart from other artists, in approach and process, is that my intention in my art is to not just produce a piece of work for another person that is aesthetically attractive or pleasing,” Millon said. “My intention of the faceless images and asking my clients questions about the people in the pictures is due to my idea that memories are important.” She starts with an image given by her clients. She then is tasked with recreating that image in her unique style. Next, she asks questions that are specific to the people in the image. “I ask them questions about who the person is they would like me to draw, what they would like to see or what feel they are going for.” She experiences an out-of-body phenomenon called “Sonder” where she is able to feel a deep connect to a person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. “I am able to be part of that sonder concept with my clients by stepping into another person’s life for a brief moment to understand, sympathize and empathize with, what they value in life.”
Sonder, a term coined in the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig, is defined:
n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
“I believe that every individual has stories, experiences, and remarkable moments that make their lives vivid and complex,” Millon said. “With my line art, I aspire to partake in outlining and recreating the precious, photographic moments of people with their significant other, family member, friend, or a self-portrait, to bring about a sonder, realization that we are all living our vivid, complex lives together.”
Millon currently lives in Loma Linda, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in nutrition and dietetics at Loma Linda University where she is a junior. Her art is displayed on Instagram at @lines.that.sonder where she posts her works of art, music and poetry.
