MAC September Student Spotlight: Juliet

September finds MAC Teaching Artists in classrooms all across Mono County teaching music and art. Both of our programs - Crescendo (music) and Create with the Greats (visual art) are finally underway, and our artists are so happy to be back in the schools! This month, we stopped by to chat with MES 5th grader, Juliet, about her experience with art and (in this case specifically) her most recent Create with the Greats class. We think you'll find her enthusiasm contagious!

Juliet with her art from the lesson about artists Judith Lowry, whose work is currently featured at NMA.

Why do you love art?

I love art because it is very creative. You can use your imagination - and you can do it pretty much anywhere as long as you have the right materials  - which is a pencil, paper and maybe some colored pencils. And I love how it inspires people to do new things and they can do just anything they want to. They don’t have to draw any one thing, they can do anything!

Do you have a favorite piece of art you have created?

I do love making certain things with multiple colors - I love stuff that is multi-colored. That doesn’t have to just be the rainbow. Mostly I just create doodles. I love writing my name in a rainbow - I have a special pattern - Purple, pink, blue, green - but because my name is 6 letters, and there are 4 colors, I use my last initial so there are 7 letters to color. I do each letter in a different color and then repeat the pattern (well,  I leave out the pink). I also like to add text to my art!

What would you say to a friend to get them interested in art?

I would say you can pretty much do it anywhere and it’s really fun and you don’t need too many supplies and it encourages you to do new things and be creative.

Do you think art is important? Why?

Yes - it’s important to do it because it definitely increases your attention span. It grows your thinking and you’re able to understand more stuff. You’re able to recognize patterns. It helps you understand colors and you can blend them - and know what all those colors are - different shades, textures - getting exposed to all sorts of new knowledge!

What do you love to create the most?

I love to draw, but I also love making 3D fabric things. I’ve made little safety pins in different colors and then with friends - we drew a little fire pit,  and put the paper fabric in the middle as a fire and then drew a little tent and a trail, mountains and trees - and also made little people out of blue and green and made little marshmallows for bobby pins from a kit we got at Girl Scouts when we were at a camp-o-ree!

Is there anything else we should know or that you'd like to tell us?

I love the Create with the Greats lessons so much - they (the teaching artists)  come to MES and help us learn all about art! (In this lesson) it was really cool that we got to trace our hands and then a representation of our face - so every single one is different. For this project, you couldn’t really copy anyone else because it’s your face and your hand and your symbols.

You can see Juliet's special symbols in her picture above:

Stars, hearts, blue circles

Mountains, skis, rainbow & rain

Math equation, soccer ball, paws (cat & dog)

Text “After it rains, there’s always a rainbow”