MAC November Student Spotlight: Iva
- Nov 24, 2025
- 2 min read
You may know that we provide arts programs at all of the schools in Mono County, but did you know that we also have classes at our MAC Community Arts Center & Gallery too? This month, we talked to kindergartner, Iva, who's in our Afterschool Art Explorations! class here at MAC. Iva LOVES art - and does it as often as she can.
Why do you love art - and what kind of art is your favorite?
I love art because you can do it any way you want. You can explain your feelings with the colors. My favorite colors are pink and purple and rainbow.
Do you have a favorite piece of art you have created?
The one where I drew and painted my dog Kona. I used yellow and orange mixed to make the color of his fur. I did it by myself and it took like a week and a half.
What would you say to a friend to get them interested in art?
I used the diagonal line and I used cardboard to make the straight lines. We used primary colors for this piece.
Do you think art is important? Why?
Yes. Without art, there wouldn’t be pictures. There wouldn’t be things that are made up, there would just be things that are real and that would be so boring.
What do you love to create the most?
I love painting fishes like I did at art camp this summer.
Is there anything else we should know or that you'd like to tell us?
My favorite places to do art are at home and at school. I do it with my parents and at school and at MAC.
Reading Iva’s thoughts on art got me thinking about other creative projects that let you explore ideas differently. There's a browser-based game called The False Sun that does exactly that — it's a psychological horror visual novel with branching choices and multiple endings. No download needed, just pure narrative. If you’re into stories that challenge you, it's worth a search. 🎙️
Iva’s comment about using color to explain feelings made me think about how games use dialogue to build connections. There's a free visual novel called A Date with Death that does this really well — you chat and video call with the Grim Reaper over a seven-day bet. It's surprisingly funny and romantic, and your choices lead to different endings. If you like narrative games with personality, searching for "A Date with Death" is a good move. ✨
There's a special kind of wisdom in the way young artists see the world — Iva, a kindergartner at MAC's Afterschool Art Explorations class, believes art matters because without it, "there wouldn't be things that are made up, there would just be things that are real and that would be so boring." She spent a week and a half painting her dog Kona, mixing yellow and orange to match his fur, and she loves painting fishes just like she did at summer camp. Her favorite colors are pink, purple, and rainbow, and she creates art at home, at school, and at MAC — wherever she can. For anyone who loves heartwarming community stories and the unfiltered creativity of young minds,…
Iva explaining that without art there would only be real things and that would be boring is the best argument for arts funding I have read this year. The Mondrian piece with cardboard for the straight lines shows real technique for a kindergartner. My own five year old would pick Clicker Games over a paintbrush every time, so Kona in mixed yellow and orange is genuinely humbling.
Iva’s color mixing for Kona’s fur really stuck with me—yellow and orange sounds just right for a warm doggy glow. It’s so sweet that she stuck with it for a week and a half. By the way, I keep a free Satisfactory production calculator I like to share: https://satisfactorycalculator.net/