Student Art Profile - Kayla 

By: Zoe Clouthier and Henry Dobozy

KCI is a very artistic school, from our annual variety show Limelight, to the individual students, our school is populated with creative minds. However, it is very easy for artists to sink below the surface in today's world, especially if they’re students who can’t devote all their time to self-promotion, so we here at The Edge have made it our goal to seek out these students and give them a voice. Pablo Picasso once famously said that “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up.” We fully agree with this quote, and we are doing what we can to help young artists follow their dreams. In the first of what will become a series of articles of this kind, our journalists have met with some prominent artists around KCI and interviewed them about their art. The results were illuminating. So without further ado, here is Kayla, one of the artists in our school community. 

Kayla (she/her)- Jeweler, Sketcher, Crochet, Digital Art

The Edge: Do you mind giving a brief description of what you do artistically? 

Kayla: I mostly make traditional art such as drawings and paintings, but I also do graphic design, digital art, I crochet, and I also have a jewelry/art business.

The Edge: Do you have any inspirations in your artwork?

Kayla: A lot of inspiration for my artwork is just derived from things that I see around me or just my personal interests in general. It could be an issue that I see that is prevalent or it could be something that I saw that was really heartwarming or nice.

The Edge: What is your process for creation like?

Kayla: If I'm just doing a small little painting just cause I feel like painting or drawing, usually I'll just go for it and I won't typically do any planning, I'll just kind of let my brain go wherever it decides to take the painting or drawing.  If I'm creating a larger piece or just a piece with meaning in general, I'll often sketch out a few ideas and then once I'm happy enough with it, I'll just go for it and usually I don't refer back to my planning after I've got the base of the idea down because I don't want to be held down to what I originally wanted to do. When you're creating an art piece, none of it is set in stone, even if you made a plan. Things maybe won't work out how you want them to or you'll just decide that you like one thing better than the other, even if it wasn't your original hope.

The Edge: How are your earnings being used (if you are making any)?

Kayla: The earnings that I have made from the jewelry that I sell, for the most part goes back into making more jewelry, but I also have one "line" I guess you could call it, that I just call my charity keychains and a 100% of the proceeds go to the designated charity. Currently my designs were made for KW accessibility. So all of my charity keychains, 100% of the proceeds go to KW accessibility and once I run out of stock of these designs, I will choose a new charity and do it all over again. So far I have raised about $80 and I'm about 2/3 of the way through my stock!  I also make pride bracelets and 50% of those profits go to OK2BME, a charity that helps support queer/LGBTQ+ youth.

The Edge: Where do you get your supplies?

Kayla: For my jewelry, a lot of the supplies that I get are from Michael's or they were things I already have around the house. My mother is also very crafty so she has lots of random craft supplies laying around the house that I have "borrowed" to make my jewelry, or sometimes I even find a lot of things at value village or just thrift stores in general. As for my traditional art supplies, a lot of them come from Curry's or Michael's

The Edge: How long have you been making art?

Kayla: I've been making art for as long as I can remember but I've been taking it seriously since about grade 7 or 8, and I have had my business since I believe April of 2021, but that might not be exact.

The Edge: What made you start making art?

Kayla: I've always had a passion for art so I never really had a clear start for art, and as I mentioned my mother is very crafty, so she got me into doing crafts and drawing and everything as soon as I was old enough to. I believe her kind of introducing me to art definitely helped me find my passion for it.  As for my business, I love jewelry and I really love unique jewelry. But having a love for jewelry can be very expensive and a lot of even the unique jewelry that I've found has been a little out of my budget for what I would like to spend. So, I tried making my own jewelry. I figured that a lot of people were in the same boat and after I started to get a bit better at making my own jewelry, I decided to start selling it. Long story short, I started the business to be able to help give people access to affordable jewelry and also to be able to share my art with others through commissions and art prints.

The Edge: Do you have a goal with your art or somewhere you’d like to reach?

Kayla: Currently I am hoping to get into graphic design for college. In grade 7 my visual arts teacher suggested graphic design after I had mentioned doing something creative for my job, and then I took graphic design in grade 10 and 11 and I have it next semester again this year. I pretty much fell in love with it right away and I am really excited to continue doing it. As for my business, it would be nice to keep it up and kind of keep it as a side thing, because as I said I love being able to share my art with others and being able to give people the option to have affordable jewelry. For my art, I'm really excited to continue progressing with both my traditional and my digital work. I feel that you can never be a perfect artist because there is always going to be something that could be better or stronger, but I definitely believe I, and anyone can get better and I do believe that I am capable of it. 

The Edge: Where do you display your artwork?

Kayla:  My artwork currently is primarily displayed on my Instagram (@kaylapickoskiart) and my website (kaylapickoskiart.wixsite.com/k-p-art) (I am not necessarily great at updating them right now). But I have also had my art displayed in an exhibit at Burton Luther King University last school year and I have had my art from visual art and graphics class put up in the hallways, but that is about the extent of it.