Yin

Cameron Williams is an artist. Designing is the yin of his life. It is helpful. It is where he fills the world with warmth. Yet when he talks of his art, shades of his athleticism show. He talks of his game plan for his design firm, dissects his drawing form and flips through his Adobe Illustrator playbook. With yin comes yang. With Williams’ art comes his athletics.

Williams was inspired to start a design company after seeing friends’ work on Facebook. He watched  instructional videos and became proficient at editing photos, designing album covers and creating posters using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. He decided to start designing under a formal name: iGeek. But there is more to his company than just a way to make money. As it says on Williams’ Facebook page, iGeek is a movement.

“The message behind [iGeek] is get smart, don’t be dumb, stay in school and avoid drugs and gangs,” Williams said.

Inspired by the gang-related deaths of his uncle and cousin, Williams spreads his message through an iGeek clothing line, adorned by a dorky doppelganger. Although he had a tough childhood, Williams’ style cites more positive sources.

“My art style is retro and fantasy,” Williams said. “I find inspiration from the ‘80s and ‘90s. I like how retro is different and the way all the colors pop out.”

Although his  company creates a cash flow, the happiness his work brings other people motivates him more.

“At first, I got the [idea] to do art for me,” Williams said. “Now, I do it for others. They reach out to me sometimes, and sometimes I reach out to them.”

Running hurdles is an individual sport, but Williams’ artwork is not. His  iGeek  art is that of a team player’s, even though it begins with an i.

Yang

Cameron Williams is an athlete. Hurdling is the yang of his life. It is vicious. It is where he walks onto the track and destroys his opponents.  Yet on a car ride to track practice, he sounds more like an artist. He describes the beauty of proper running form, the art of how to win races, the lack of lighting on the canvas in which he paints circles over and over with his feet. With yang comes yin. With Williams’ athletics comes his art.

“Track is my life,” Williams said, “but if I’m not running, I’m drawing, or vice versa. Or I’m asleep.”

Williams’s achievements attach him to it. After dipping into football and basketball, he dove head first into track and field his freshman year and has yet to dry off. He quickly fell into flying over hurdles, and now he is nationally ranked in the event. Along with KHS track, he also runs for the St. Louis Lightning, a select traveling track team. Between the two, he is quite busy.

“About a week after the high school season ends, the summer season for [the St. Louis Lightning] starts,” Williams said. “I don’t really have an off-season, but I don’t mind because I love running track.”

Williams hopes his track record is next-level material. His travel team exposes him to colleges around the country, and several colleges have already expressed interest in him. He has the fortunate dilemma of finding a school where his art and track can coexist.

“I was thinking about Columbia in Chicago, since my sister goes there and they have a good art school,” Williams said, “but I also want a few colleges to start looking at me for track, like Arkansas and [Louisiana State University].”

Wherever Williams decides to go to college, he will bring along both his arts and athletics. In different bags, of course.