Senior Ella Heeter said she has taken a liking to art ever since she was a child—she was always drawing or painting and now plans on using her art knowledge and skills in her career.
Ella has contributed to Milton’s artistic community since starting high school, including serving as president of Milton’s National Art Honor Society (NAHS). In this position, Ella said she had organized all the fundraisers and managed NAHS induction and membership along with Art Teacher Ms. Lauren Richie.
“She is an amazing TA, student and president of the National Art Honor Society. It has been a pleasure being her teacher,” Ms. Richie said.
Ella is currently enrolled in AP art, which she said is the most challenging art class she has taken. Ella explained her most challenging piece had been her mosaic self-portrait. She created this by cutting out a piece of plywood and sketching out the picture to be recreated. She said she used different colored tiles glued down on the board to outline the key features and then used grout to fill in the gaps, creating the final project.
According to Ms. Richie, she has known Ella for five years and has watched her art and leadership skills grow throughout the years.
“Ella is a focused hardworking creative artist who uses her life experiences and passion to influence her artwork. She is always coming up with new ideas and freely experiments with different media and techniques,” said Ms. Richie.
According to Ella, her favorite piece was her “Paw at the Patina” golden leaf drawing. To create this, she used a black paper canvas and sketched out the figure using a white colored pencil. She then filled out the background by quoting different artists and finished up the piece by gluing on golden leaf foils and brushing the excess.
Ella said she plans to attend Dickinson College in Carlisle for archeology and double majoring in art history, since they have a good archeological and abroad program. She added that after she graduates, she plans to become an archeologist or an art historian.
Along with Ella’s passion for history, she said her favorite art style is Baroque. “It was such an interesting period of history and had some of my favorite art pieces,” she added.
“The School of Athens” by Raphael is one of her favorite pieces of art. “I know it’s a basic choice, but it’s a classic,” she said.
Ella’s biggest problem when creating a piece is procrastination, but her friends usually steer her in the right direction, she said. She added that her friends also help her come up with ideas for future pieces and critique her art.
Along with creating art, Ella said she also likes to bake. She added it acts as an emotional outlet the same way creating art does. “I like just baking simple things like muffins and cookies, but my favorite is banana bread,” she said.
