Warwick Valley student artist of the week: Jillian Parson

Park Avenue Elementary fourth-grader Jillian Parsons loves coming to art class and using different materials to fuel her creativity.

“I like clay, glitter, pastels, watercolors, paints, yarn, burlap and other things,” she said. “I love using different colors. I love to experiment with different materials.”

Art teacher Louise Silver said Jillian is a very conscientious and devoted artist who is completely involved in her work and is always focused.

“Jillian has her own style and always puts her own creative interpretation into her art,” Mrs. Silver added. “She is very kind and sensitive toward her schoolmates. I look forward to watching her artistic growth through her years at the middle school.”

Jillian has participated in the district’s K-12 art show since kindergarten and has been a part of the Orange County Arts Council’s exhibit at the Galleria at Crystal Run in Middletown.

That’s a lot of artistic accomplishments in only four years’ time with more successes to certainly follow. For these reasons and more, Jillian is this week’s Warwick Valley student artist of the week.

Feeling something of meaning and showing how you feel

Jillian noted an important concept many artists keep in mind when creating work: Getting people to feel something of meaning when viewing it.

“You get to show how you feel through creating a painting,” she said. “Others can see how you feel. And, it’s a good thing to show how you feel.”

Jillian prefers to use bright colors in her work and is happy to show her artwork to others.

“Art is a great thing to get involved with because there’s a lot of fun things about art, like drawing, decorating and outlining,” she said. “I like experimenting with a lot of different materials. I feel very proud when I show people my work.”

And, Jillian noted, when she’s in art class, she’s absorbed in her work.

“I don’t like talking during class,” she added. “I don’t want to mess up with my work.”

'Art is important because it's about feelings'

Though she has a lot of years to decide and because Jillian has such an interest in art, she’s thinking about becoming an art teacher.

Assuming she does, expect Jillian to emphasize to her future students that two of the best things about creating art is that it allows creators to be expressive with their feelings and admirers to equally feel emotions when looking at the completed work.

“Art is important in life because it’s all about feelings,” Jillian said. “There are a lot of fun things about art, but art also makes you a better person. You can show what you feel without saying. You can tell someone what your art is about. You can also motivate people to like art. Doing this, it just makes me feel good.”