Throughout high school, senior Audrey Holliday has spent much time growing with the things she participates in at school. She has shaped her mentality through her art since freshman year. She has used many different forms of art like sculpting, painting and drawing, which she has improved in throughout the four years she has been here.
Q: How have your experiences at RBHS shaped who you are today?
A: “Well, it’s been four years of my life, so it’d be weird if I was the exact same person. I think specifically like academics wise, [Rock Bridge has] really shaped me a lot. I’m much more hardworking and determined than I was my freshman year now because I want to get good grades and do all of that stuff. And I’ve met a whole bunch of cool people who have definitely changed how I act.”
Q: Does all your art come with inspiration?
A: “[My art] sounds like all these essays I’ve written actually. I don’t know, [it’s as if] I could recite [them]. I take my inspiration from the world around me. Sometimes there’s like an explicit thing that’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to make an art piece about this.’ And I’ve done that a lot with one of my portfolios this year because it’s about animal cruelty. I’m using specific instances of cruelty to then make realistic pieces based off of that. But then there’s other times where it’s like, ‘Oh, I just want to draw a person.’ And so I just draw a person.”
Q: How do you think you express yourself through the art that you make?
A: “Everything I make is inspired by my own perspective and experience. By making the art, I’m showing how I feel and how I think to other people.”
Q: How and why did you join show choir?
A: “In fifth grade, it was either the middle school or high school show choir that came to my elementary school and put on a short performance. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool.’ And so in sixth grade, I joined the Gentry Show Choir. Then in 8th grade, I joined the John Warner Show Choir again, and I just stuck with it.”
Q: What are some of your goals or plans for the future?
A: “Well, I’m planning on attending university for at least four years, and then I might go and get a law degree so that I can become some kind of international lawyer […] to protect nations and people.”
Q: Has that been something you’ve wanted for a while?
A: “When I was younger, people said I would make a good lawyer because I kind of always knew [my] opinions […]. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized, ‘Wow, [lawyers get paid] a lot, [and] I’m interested in the subjects that it aligns with. I’m [also] good at the subjects it aligns with. Like, I wouldn’t hate this at all.’”
Q: Do you use your art specifically to show people stuff that you can’t exactly say?
A: “Oh, I can say it. I just like drawing it and painting it as well. But a lot of times my art comes with excerpts, poems and stuff that also expresses it in different ways. With art, you also have to write about art. And so with all these essays, I have to write for these portfolios I’m doing, which will say the exact same stuff my art [says]. But I can say it. I just like to draw it.”
Q: Have you made any specific art [about] people that you’ve met in your life?
A: “Yeah, a lot. My 2D portfolio right now is all about my friends and how they’ve shaped my perspective. So it’s a whole bunch of self-portraits and portraits of them and with them.”
Q: What is a person or event that has inspired you and why?
A: “I think the most inspiring person in my life is my friend Sophia because we’ve known each other since we were in fourth grade. We’ve kind of grown up together. In a way, we’re interested in a lot of the same things. She’s just inspiring to be around. She’s always upbeat. She’s always happy, [and] I appreciate it a lot.”
Q: What is [a] time when you were most proud of yourself?
A: “I think whenever I won the Congressional Art Competition last year. It was pretty awesome. I liked that a lot.”
Q: Was it a specific piece or was it multiple pieces?
A: “It was a specific piece that I made just for the competition, and so I put a lot of work into it because it was for a specific thing. I wanted to convey a specific message [so] when I got the positive feedback, and I ended up getting to go to the Capitol building to see my painting hung. It was really cool.”
Q: Has art always been like that where you make it for specific reasons?
A: “Yeah. I’m not one of those people who just can sit down and do something. I have to have a specific plan in place beforehand. ‘What do I want to convey? How do I want to do that?’”
