“I first started drawing random household items and doodling with crayons on the kitchen floor,” said Sarah Long, a junior student-artist. She has won a number of contests and submitted her work to multiple local newspapers.
Long volunteers in the art department at the middle school with sixth graders. This is her first step into pursuing a career in her passion and using it to benefit others in practices such as art therapy.
Fascinated by human behavior and all walks of life, she focuses on the world around her and puts it to original work. Long explains, “People think they can’t do art, but everyone is artistic. It is anything you can create; [it is] full of flaws and expresses the artists.”
Long’s favorite medium is oil-painting. “The colors blend and mix together much better,” shes said. Her genre of choice is surrealism, involving symbolism in unrealistic or fantastical scenarios. “Imagine a big tree with bleeding hearts hanging from it. That would never happen but it symbolizes something,” stated Long, as she explained her idea of surrealism.
Next on her list is photography, much of which she shares via Facebook and receives dozens to hundreds of admiring comments and “likes.”
“I hate still life. I like to draw from my head,” said Long. She explains that the piece evolves when you draw from your thoughts.
“[Art] doesn’t usually come out the way you want. The beauty [of it] is that it changes; you can’t learn it, [you] just do it.” Long said. This is the message she wishes to convey and hopes others will equally express themselves, regardless of artistic talent.
Long does not paint and draw for mandatory deadlines and restricting genres. Though she can accomplish assignment styles in the classroom, she claims her best work is done alone, outside of school, where it is “the most real and raw.”
Long and other artists in our community, regardless of age, show us that it is possible to incorporate something they love into all aspects of life.
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