Art Student Spotlight: Aliyah Carr-Smalls

(photo by Mariana Castaneda)

Senior Aliyah Carr-Smalls has been named Art Student of The Month in Mrs. Boyett's AP art class at WGHS. Aliyah’s art stands out for its emotional depth and its personal meaning.
​by Mariana Castaneda

Aliyah states “what's inspiring my art right now is kinda using an idea of like childhood memories right now.” Using her childhood memories and old photos of herself, she creates pieces that feel nostalgic and emotional. Aliyah’s art style is often described as "still and strongly focused on capturing moments in time." While she personally doesn't feel much emotion when creating, she does hope that people who see her art feel “a little bit emotional or at least happy” when looking at it. 
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Through her art class, Aliyah has grown and flourished as an artist . Aliyah talks about how learning how to shade and layer shadows helped her improve in her art, especially since she mostly focused on realism with pencils. Aliyah stated, “Before I was really into realism drawing with just pencils, so when I came here and took the class, I learned that you're supposed to layer the darker the shadow gets. That really helped me out in color theory too.”

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​AP Art has helped her push her skills further, and has allowed her to grow. Although being named Art Student of The Month has not really changed her pace, Aliyah is still motivated to grow. In the future, Aliyah hopes to become even more creative and better interpret her ideas on paper or on her canvas. “I'd say I'd want to get more creative, you know? Just kinda putting things down and being able to interpret it well on paper or the canvas.”

Aliyah’s creativity and efforts really stand out in Mrs. Boyett’s class. Her use of childhood memories makes her art feel personal and relatable. It's exciting to see how her skills continue to grow here at WGHS.

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