Freshman Ruby Luna is an aspiring artist who is eccentric, light-hearted, and easy to talk to. Ruby shares *their passion for art. (*They/He)
Q: Your special talent?
A: Art. I try to draw on a daily basis if I can manage it.
Q: How long have you been drawing?
A: Since I was six years old.
Q: Your experiences with other artists?
A: A bit jealous if they are really good at it, but I still love seeing their artwork even if I am [jealous].
Q: Your inspiration?
A: A YouTuber: I thought their animations were cool.
Q: Describe your journey.
A: I didn’t think my art was that good until 2019. I was getting better at drawing during that year, it just happened.
Q: Encouraged you to keep doing your talent?
A: No one, actually. I kept to myself.
Q: Your favorite part of your talent?
A: I like showing others my artwork, and I guess explaining to them what I do. It’s fun.
Q: Feeling you get when someone compliments you for your artwork?
A: I get embarrassed. I mean, I enjoy them appreciating my artwork, but I don’t think it is anything worth complimenting over. And sometimes they just see my artwork accidentally. I get more nervous when it is out of the blue.
Q: Medium in art?
A: I draw online, if that counts, but I also prefer sketching.
Q: Personal favorite drawing created by you?
A: I don’t have one … well, I just can’t think of one right now.
Q: Your favorite artist; Would you have dinner with them?
A: I don’t know. I like scrolling through artwork made by other artists, but never really looked at their names.
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Freshman Avery Scofield has an inventive, interesting, and helpful character for anything he specializes in, like art. Avery shares his creative skills.
Q: Your special talent?
A: I consider myself a multi-medium artist.
Q: How long have you been drawing?
A: I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. Since the dawn of time, hah.
Q: Your experiences with other artists?
A: When I see other artists, I often like to try and learn from their art, figure things out, [and] look it over for inspiration.
Q: Your inspiration?
A: It’s not so much a who, but when I was younger, I really liked to watch the original Alice in Wonderland with my mom a lot. It’s probably like the inciting incident that made me really love to be creative and to draw.
Q: Describe your journey.
A: I really started to draw when I was little. As the years went on in school, instead of taking notes I would often just doodle instead. I feel like when I really started to get at least decent at art, it was probably when I was around ten years old. At that time I started to become more aware of my surroundings and more of the darker aspects of my life. I use drawing as a tool to express myself.
Q: Encouraged you to keep doing your talent?
A: Um, no one, really. It’s just always been part of my life.
Q: Your favorite part of your talent?
A: My favorite part is the opportunity and the freedom to just make anything. You know, I can draw anything and no one could tell me I can’t. I really like that. It’s very liberating and exciting.
Q: Feeling you get when someone compliments you for your artwork?
A: I feel accepted, which has been a struggle all my life. Really just trying to figure out how I can fit in, and a lot of times art has been that way for me to figure that out.
Q: Medium in art?
A: Any medium I can use.
Q: Personal favorite drawing created by you?
A: My favorite personally is probably one of my eye drawings, it’s what I am most experienced with over practice.
Q: Your favorite artist; Would you have dinner with them?
A: Don’t have one right now. Maybe an older artist like Picasso, and I guess I would have dinner with them. We could share ideas that way.
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Art teacher Ms. McCall is a devoted, hardworking, and civil teacher who strives to raise the artistic ability of her students. Ms. McCall shares her experience in the art industry.
Q: Your special talent?
A: I teach the Drawing and Painting levels one and two, and also the AP 2D Art and Design class.
Q: How long have you been drawing?
A: Since my time at Skyway – This is also my sixth year teaching art at Cheyenne Mountain.
Q: Your experiences with other artists?
A: I have had only pleasant experiences with other artists, I believe. They are all very inspiring people.
Q: Your inspiration?
A: We recently took a trip up to the Denver Art Museum and looked at some of the contemporary art in that exhibit. I saw odd mediums like paper and paper towels in the work as inspiring. I can’t think of the artist’s name off the top of my head, though.
Q: Describe your journey?
A: I mean, I went to the Cheyenne Mountains School District all the way from kindergarten. Then I went to Skyway and I had an excellent art teacher. Her name was Mrs. Chady, and she was just a really great art teacher. I was inspired by her and went all the way up through junior high and high school interested in art.
Q: Who encouraged you to keep doing your talent?
A: I think, you know, I had Chip Shaw, who was a teacher in this classroom. He retired a couple of years ago. When I was in high school, he was very motivating and encouraging for me, and it’s a funny kind of round circle that I would then be teaching in his classroom.
Q: Your favorite part of your talent?
A: I like inspiring others, specifically my students. I think, and this would be true probably for a lot of teachers, but it feels incredible seeing my students get that light-bulb moment and finally understand what they want in their piece.
Q: Feeling you get when someone compliments you for your artwork?
A: Gratitude? I don’t get a feeling from it that I can truly pinpoint.
Q: Medium in art?
A: I think, personally, my favorite is probably painting. Also oil and acrylic. For more simple drawings, I like charcoal and graphite along with my sketched piece.
Q: Personal favorite drawing created by you?
A: I think my favorite was an abstract piece that was nature-inspired, and it was mostly shades of green, black, and white – and it was an abstract. It’s hard to describe.
Q: Your favorite artist; Would you have dinner with them?
A: I have always been inspired by the art of the post-impressionists like Cézanne and those artists, who were really free with their brushwork and expressive with the way that they applied paint. Also, Pissarro, that’s one of my favorites. Although, I think I would take Frida Kahlo to dinner personally.
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Junior Camden Christian is a straightforward, ambitious, and creative individual. Camden shares her knack for artistry.
Q: Your special talent?
A: Art. Not a talent, but a skill in my opinion.
Q: How long have you been drawing?
A: Almost eight years now.
Q: Your experiences with other artists?
A: Others with my same talent tend to be very nice and welcoming. A few have been mean, though, and criticized non-constructively (generally those who do not possess as much skill as the person they are criticizing).
Q: Your inspiration?
A: My friend, Alex, did art when we were younger, and I thought he was so cool, so I wanted to do art as well.
Q: Describe your journey?
A: I drew a lot of cats and dogs, all of which looked like aliens. I hoped to gain popularity online through it, but I didn’t. I did make some friends, though.
Q: Encouraged you to keep doing your talent?
A: My friends encouraged me in elementary school, and now I just encourage myself because I’m too far now to give up.
Q: Your favorite part of your talent?
A: Being able to show it to others and knowing that not everyone has this skill is my favorite part.
Q: Feeling you get when someone compliments you for your artwork?
A: I feel a little embarrassed, but I am grateful to be receiving compliments.
Q: Medium in art?
A: Digital art. While I do draw with pencil, digital art is more what I am used to.
Q: Personal favorite drawing created by you?
A: Still-life pencil drawing from Freshman year. It doesn’t have any color to it, but the objects are still able to be clearly distinguished, and that’s why I like it so much.
Q: Your favorite artist; Would you have dinner with them?
A: Van Gogh because his pieces hold history and his own history surrounding him is very interesting, as well as the conspiracy theories. Also, Leonardo da Vinci, as he seemed to have a very brilliant mind and I would love to know how he talked and how he came up with his ideas.
