by Gina Scarpa and Mike Bandy

On last night's episode of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, the challenge was to create a piece of art based on the experience of driving an Audi. Jaime Lynn, the devout Christian from Chicago, was eliminated. Her piece, "Turn it Up", a steering wheel surrounded by figures of herself dancing, was deemed not exuberant enough by the judges. We caught up with Jaime Lynn in an exclusive interview, to talk about her thoughts on her elimination, what it was like it the house, and what she's got coming up next.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When you were eliminated, you said that you wished you would have pushed yourself more. If you had done so, what kind of piece would you have created?
A. Jaime Lynn: Actually, I am really pleased with the piece that I made last night, as completely ridiculous and almost embarrassing as it was. I was proud of it because I didn't make it for anybody but myself. That was about me saying, "I don't know how to approach these challenges anymore," because I had tried different tactics and it didn't work. I wish I pushed myself more in earlier challenges and thought about them more in an open minded, no holds barred, kind of way. Without meaning to, I just reverted back to art school foundations, where you're thinking solely about the challenge. I should've been thinking about what I wanted to make and found a way to squeeze it into the challenge. It's fine.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When the judges critiqued your last piece, you seemed to agree with what they had to say. Do you wish you had defended your piece more, and if so, what would you have said?
A. Jaime Lynn: Not really. I knew the minute that critiques started going more on the negative side. I don't want to say I didn't care anymore but I started to question whether or not that I would ever meet eye to eye with this particular group of judges, given the amount of time that I had to work on the challenges. I began to doubt, being in the bottom so many times, and felt like we would just agree to disagree. I wasn't able to work in a way that pleased them.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Tell us about your process for creating art. Did being on the show embrace that process or make it more difficult?
A. Jaime Lynn: Typically, if I'm picking a painting, I do photo collages and photographs. A good painting for me can take anywhere from two weeks to two months or so. There's a lot of staring at it and not making any moves at all. There's making moves and wishing it wasn't there and marking it out and fighting with pieces. I will say that the good thing about the process that I had to undergo with these challenges was that it taught me that I can work quickly. I don't work to my level of standards quickly but it is possible.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was the best part of being on the show?
A. Jaime Lynn: The best part was the experience of going through something so wacky and seeing how a reality show works. With those other artists, it was the most crazy, random experience that you rarely ever get to have and I don't know that I'll ever do that again. It was crazy to see how tv is done. I've always been fascinated with tv and film and a lot of my work deals with that. For me, I was just loving every minute of it. It was cool that I got to go out of town and do nothing but make art but it was the relationships with people that will stick with me.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What's coming up next for you?
A. Jaime Lynn: I am continuing my studio practice. I have a wonderful studio that is part of the Chicago Arts Coalition. I'm continuing to work on illustrating a book for a local author and I'm continuing to diversify what I consider to be creative success. I want to use my imagery in a creative way for the fashion world. That's another facet that I'm interested in. I'm just doing my own thing. My work is still super girly and optimistic in a way.

Work of Art airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

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