By Maddie Soldaat
It’s just paint on paper. It can’t mean anything, some would say. But to others, it is a beautiful thing that makes a person… a person.
“It helps me see who I am,” freshman Lyla Stanley says. “It is a way to express yourself when you can’t in other ways.”
Lyla is considered among a handful of students who are the school’s most talented artists. Art is her sanctuary and allows her to see herself more clearly.
Each stroke of a paintbrush, every glide of a pencil is a silence to her mind.
Lyla has enjoyed art for as long as she can remember. She first got into art around her seventh-grade year. She says it was a pleasant way to pass the time and help write out her thoughts on paper. However, the kindergarten hand turkeys will always have a place in her heart.
Lyla is currently enrolled in the Intro to 2D art class and loves it.
She says the class provides various art styles, allowing students to try methods of art they haven’t attempted and learn new favorites. Recently she finished a drawing using only circles. They incorporated elements that were meaningful to them like music and things they take an interest in.
Lyla says this specific project challenged her. It was tedious and took patience, but in the end, it all came together and she loved the result.
She says trying new styles and learning new skills is a wonderful experience, but she will always love her unique style and what she finds most important to her.
She loves to draw sea animals most of all because she loves the beach, summer and everything bright and happy.
Lyla says she connects with animals because she wants to be a marine biologist. Drawing helps her visualize her passion and future.
“It helps me see who I am,” Lyla says.
Senior Annie Jackson is also an inspiring artist. She has been involved with art since middle school.
She says she wasn’t interested at first but as time went on she gradually started to enjoy the class.
When she got to high school there were different art classes but one caught her eye. This class was Ceramics.
She says she first noticed ceramic pieces at her grandma’s house. Her grandma had big ceramic pieces and Annie had always thought it would be a cool thing to try.
Her first ceramic piece was not very good but she kept trying, she said. She wanted to create something she was really proud of and eventually, she got to a point where she loved it.
She says Delta’s art classes have taught her more than just art.
The classes showed her that she was capable of doing well even if she doubted herself.
“It taught me confidence in myself,” Annie says.
She says ceramics is not her only interest but painting as well. In ceramics you can be hands-on and get your hands dirty, molding the art to your liking. Painting is soothing and an excellent time passer.
Annie has always enjoyed art and wants to continue so she plans to major in art therapy at Franklin College.
“I will probably be doing art for the rest of my life,” Annie says.
Another artist most known for her realistic drawings of animals, people and ordinary objects is freshman Meya Journay.
She says her love for art began around the age of 10. She remembers her mom’s canvases being hung up all around her and admiring her mom’s artwork.
From those days forward she was driven to pursue the skill.
“It’s a new way to express my feelings just by putting colors on paper,” Meya says.
She says the style she tends to lean on the most is realism.
Being able to add the little details to bring a piece together and adding her own small touches to make her art hers is very special for her.
One thing that has been a challenge she says is the art classes.
In the classes, you try lots of different styles, which are both good and bad. She prefers to stick with what she knows and loves, but she also likes being introduced for the first time to new arts.
She says she really loved to admire her work as a young artist and still likes to do that.
It’s a factor that motivates her to continue making wonderful art.
She says she remembers having a pink notebook with the word sketch on it when she was little. This notebook is where her art journey began.
She says her favorite things she drew in the notebook were facial features such as eyes and lips. She has since filled more notebooks and spends hours drawing whenever she can.
She believes there is no wrong way to do art.
“You can just do what you want. It’s fun,” Meya says.
She says music is also a form of art. Instead of sculpting, painting or drawing, music artists write meaningful words and make them into a story.
Meya says listening to music helps influence her artistic abilities. It puts her in a good mood and motivates her to continue working.
Although she loves her art she says she doesn’t want it to surround her life. She plans to work in the medical field or with mechanics in the future, but just because she won’t work with art all the time, it has and always will be in her life.
One last talented artist who is well-known for her skills is senior Jasmine Hines.
She is involved in three of the art classes here at Delta and plans to become an art teacher.
She says her major right now is art education and she wants to teach children how to paint and why art is important.
“I want to give children the experience I had growing up,” Jasmine says.
As a kid, she was always on the go since her dad was in the military. She got to experience so many different places and see the beauty everywhere she went.
As she traveled she carried a small notebook and drew everything she could.
“It was so nice to be able to travel the world and draw what I saw,” Jasmine says.
As the years went on she was introduced to many different famous artists and found a big interest in 19th century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh.
She says he was very expressional of everything he loved and enjoyed. His art style was also unique to his peers, but no one seemed to notice him much at all until his passing.
She says the art teachers have been a big part of her life as an artist. They introduced her to a whole new world of art and made her realize that she wanted to continue this skill for a long time.
She says being in the art classes has also helped her compare her work with others and see everyone’s unique style, helping her build her skills.
Her favorite styles of art are post-impressionism and surrealism.
Post-impressionism is when you can see each individual brushstroke with lots of bold colors. This style is also commonly seen in Van Gogh’s paintings.
Surrealism is human features converted into everyday objects.
“[Art is] how people interpret the world differently,” Jasmine says.
She works on art day and night. “It is usually what I’m doing instead of sleeping,” she says.
So with all the hours she spends, she has made lots of art including one of her favorites — a self-portrait using the post-impressionism art form.
One project she says she remembers vividly took place when she was around the age of 5. She made paper mache balloons. It was a fun project and really stuck with her.
“It was a terrible project, but so much fun,” Jasmine says.
So in the end art can be much more than people realize. Art is love, it’s feeling, and it shows who you are not only from the outside but from the inside as well.
“Art is expression,” Jasmine says.
