JAHS art classes give students an outlet to express themselves artistically through many different mediums. All students are required to have a fine arts credit to graduate, so many students only take art classes to fulfill the credit rather than to fuel their creative passions. However, some students choose to continue their pursuits through guided independent art classes to pursue their preferred artistic mediums outside of a traditional class setting. 

Two independent art students, senior Kylie Phillips and junior Maya Runkle, stand out for their artistic accomplishments. 

“I’ve only won the Kurt Vladimir Aspiring Artist Award, and I won it for the Fine Arts division and I got $500 for that,” Phillips says.

Runkle has also received accreditation for her artwork. 

“Around homecoming, I got my art into the State House. It was one [winner] per region. For the scholastics art competition recently, I got honorable mention,” Runkle says.

Despite her success, Phillips did not anticipate that she would be participating in art competitions when she first started out. 

“When I took art I was switching out of a class, so I wasn’t, like, wanting to do it. I just did it because I had to, and that was my painting class, which I took my freshman year and kind of got me into art because I had never really painted before. So it kind of sparked painting as an interest in me,” Phillips says.

JAHS art teachers had an impact on both artists, both in their interest in art and in their work submitted to competitions. 

“Ms. Moore has really pushed me to, like, perfection, and she helped me focus. She helped me focus on details and pushed me to make those perfect,” Runkle says. 

The Art Department at JA allowed both artists a more personalized focus in their independent art classes. 

Phillips says, “My junior year was when I took Art one and two and Mrs. Moore had told me that if I do those two classes, then I can become an independent art student, which gave me the opportunity to do whatever projects I wanted to do.”