Kayleigh Malstaff is a talented Senior that is a part of the AP Art class and is working on her portfolio for submission. She has taken on this challenging class and is dedicated and committed to her art. She is always in Firestones to work on her portfolio. Mr. Kuharic and Mrs. Firestone agree that building your portfolio for AP art is among the most difficult classes at Saint Joe. In this class the final portfolio consists of 15 works, and to put into context how many that is, the drawing and painting classes usually get about 2 works done a semester. 

A big and challenging aspect to the portfolio is there has to be a consistent theme seen throughout the works. This theme that is being worked towards is referred to as a sustained Investigation. Kayleigh chose to explore childhood imagination, she wants to show, “How a child depicts life, and sees things through their eyes.” She explores this idea in her work by recreating the imaginative memories every kid has. For example, one of her early works is a toddler sitting at the table eating cookies and milk (a childhood classic) and surrounding the toddler are these imaginations of cookie characters.

Of course, Kayleigh finds support and help with her art from the one and only, Mrs. Firestone. She says, “I have learned a lot from Mrs. Firestone in the past years, the best thing she taught me is to paint what you see and to squint your eyes to see the different shapes and values.“ Kayleigh went to Christ the King before coming to Saint Joe along with many other students in the AP art class, Christ the King really kraken out the artists over there. Kayleigh’s works are all paintings of different mediums. Her artworks are great to look at because they all share a common theme, but are shown with different mediums. It represents the portfolio as a whole to have a connection, but each piece also has individuality. Kayleigh says her favorite medium is oil paint, she has just started with them this year, and loves using them.  After high school she plans to minor in art in college to continue her skills with practice. Make sure to cruise by the art hall and view some of beautiful art, and congratulate her for her success in art.