When Vinnie Hager was a kid, he’d doodle on handouts, worksheets or any other piece of paper passed out in school. “I would just draw and draw and draw,” he said. After high school, he decided to explore his creative side and enrolled at AACC to study visual design.
“Community college is great for somebody like me that had a few ideas of maybe what I wanted to do out of high school or as a career in general,” he said. “Having a close-knit community college that was, one, close to where I lived, and then two, it was not a huge campus so it wasn't too scary. I had only heard good things about great professors, great programs.”
During an art show for graduating students, Hager displayed two styles of drawings, one of which he described as a classic style and the other as more “scribbly and jam packed.” His work caught the eye of a representative from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), who offered him a transfer scholarship. He completed his bachelor’s degree at MICA in spring 2021.
Hager’s work is created in a variety of formats, including paper, canvas and digital. He’s sold clothing and furniture featuring his designs. He painted a mural on the Exelon Building in Baltimore and showcased his work at galleries and at Art Basel, a well-known art fair in Miami. His work even appeared on a billboard in Times Square.
Hager’s advice to current and prospective students is to never say no.
“If you've never taken a pottery class, take one for fun, even though you're a drawer. The worst thing [you] can say is no. Always explore different mediums.”