“Reality will slap you in the face. Your years of living off your parents are over; you have to be independent. It’s exciting. It’s a good thing, but it’s a reality check, not to be afraid of. It’s a whole new life,” said Jill Stockford, BYU-Hawaii alumni and freelance artist who lives on the Oregon Coast.
Stockford said she experienced the slap of reality herself after graduating with a bachelor’s in fine arts in 1994 and getting a job with a company just before it was transitioning from the tradition “by-hand” artwork to graphic design on computers. “It was rare to get a job as a freehand artist when everything was fully converting to computers,” she said.
To art students currently at BYUH, Stockford advised, “If you want to get a career with your degree, study computer art, graphic design, or go into teaching.”
Some students might worry about not getting a career in their field of study right out of college, but Stockford said that’s not always a bad thing. After graduating, Stockford worked as a limousine driver for a service that largely ran people between the airport and famous Bandon, Ore., golf courses, all of which are ranked in the “Top 100 Golf Courses” by Golf Digest.
Occasionally she would drive celebrities or see them being driven by co-workers. Stockford herself has driven Matthew Lillard (Shaggy from “Scooby-Doo”), DB Sweeney (Sitka from “Brother Bear”), and even Clint Eastwood.
Stockford said she understands the struggles and concerns of students. While at school, Stockford worked at the Polynesian Cultural Center in the cart shop of the motor department. Stockford recalled how, during intermission of the night show, she would take a cart with friends who were dancers in the show and go around the villages searching for mangos, which they would hand out to anybody who wanted one.
“We weren’t allowed to do that,” Stockford recalled, “so some of us would watch for security while others would use sticks to knock down the mangos.”
While studying at BYUH, Stockford made it a point to make friends with people from other cultures. Stockford said most of her friends were from Fiji or Samoa, and few (if any) of her friends were from the mainland. “The Polynesian people were not shallow at all… I never heard them make fun of someone else’s appearance the way I had heard from my fellow mainland students. Their love of the gospel is stronger… The spirit is very strong with them and being around that spirit was amazing for me.”
She also had friends from places such as Hawaii, Tonga, New Zealand, Tahiti, Pohnpei, Micronesia, Cook Islands, China and Japan.
Stockford said she is grateful she decided to come to school at BYUH. She credits her desire to attend BYUH with a Hawaiian member of the church who moved into her ward when she was about 6 years old. The mother of the family “talked about Hawaii so much, taught us how to do the hula, and I loved it.” Stockford said that was when she decided she wanted to go to BYUH.Stockford grew up in a small town called Milton-Freewater, Ore., as the third of four children.
When it came time to graduate from high school and go on to college, Stockford had to decide again whether to go to Provo where her parents met, or Idaho where her friends were attending. While deciding, Stockford remembered her desire when she was growing up to go to BYUH.
“I needed distance from home, but the same church environment. BYU-Hawaii gave me both.”Since struggling as a student and graduate, Stockford now works as a freelance artist based in Bandon along the coast. She has 25 murals in commission, as well as paintings selling in the local gallery. Stockford also has a dog grooming business.
Writer: Camron Stockford ~ Multimedia Journalist