Avia’s success, and thoughts on having her mom as her teacher

        Have you ever wondered what it would be like to not only be a very talented art student, but have your mom as your teacher who is also a very talented artist? This right here is how AP art student Avia Firestone has grown into the talented artist she is today. When asked about how  it is having her mom as her art teacher, Avia said “It’s definitely challenging at times because she can be kind of critical of my work but I love her so it’s alright.” Even though she is critical of  Avia, she pushes her to do her best and try her best on all of her unique pieces of art. Avia has  won many awards including 1 silver key, 2 gold keys, and a honorable mention in her painting class. 

Some of Avia’s most unique pieces, and her messages behind them

For every piece Avia makes, there is a deep underlying message or theme she is trying to communicate. When asked about where she gets her overall inspiration fr0m Avia said, “I get my inspiration mainly from pinterest and google.” Mrs. Firestone’s AP art class is very free and students are encouraged to explore their own artistic expression, causing there to be endless possibilities for what they can create. For Avia’s piece inspired by the LA forest fires, she wanted to show the huge impact the fires had on in the people living in LA, and how detrimental they were. Avia’s piece inspired by Saint Joe Highschool’s new phone policy was created because of the overuse of technology. Avia wanted to show “digital technology including phones can distract us from real life and human connection.” Her piece of the student in front of the window at school came from a picture taken of a real student in her art class. She was inspired by school shootings and how we are blinded by what American puts in our heads. She says it shows, “how people are taught in school that America is almost unflawed and very glamorized but the truth about what is really going on isn’t being talked about enough which is gun violence and school shootings.” Lastly, the last piece with the guitar shows how live music is being used less and less and how music is turning only digital. “The colors I used in the top picture are to represent hope, and happiness compared to the darker colors in the bottom image which represent sadness.”

Avia Firestone’s future plans and advice

When asked about Avia’s plans for her future she said she wants to “Go to college, and then hopefully discover what I want to do with my career path, because I am not sure what I want to do yet.” Avia’s advice for future students with a passion in art is to “follow your dreams and don’t let anyone say that what you are doing isn’t good because everyone’s art expresses themselves in different ways.” She says, “I think that if you put restrictions on yourself then you won’t be able to create art to your best ability.”