Ever since Dana Rodriguez, junior, was a little girl, her parents supported her artistic creativity. They allowed Dana and her older sister to paint and color on the walls and always gave them access to paints and any medium they wanted to use.
“We didn’t mind if they made a mess and didn’t care if they drew on the walls,” Kathy Rodriguez, Dana Rodriguez’s mother, said.
This leniency carried on into Dana Rodriguez’s teenage years. The Rodriguez’s now have several murals painted in their basement by Dana Rodriguez’s own hand.
Two summers ago, Dana Rodriguez painted directly onto the white walls of her basement with the help of her sister. They painted SpongeBob, Disney Princesses, Finding Nemo characters, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
“My parents hung up my artwork in the basement anyways so they didn’t care if I did my art directly on the walls,” Dana Rodriguez said.
Kathy said Dana Rodriguez gets her talent from her father’s side of the family, in which some relatives are architects and talented drawers.
Kathy said art always comes easily to Dana Rodriguez no matter what medium she is using, whether it be charcoal pencils, oil pastels, paints, chalk or photography.
“She has almost a perfectionist attitude,” Kathy said. “She pays attention to the fine lines, and she’s also very good with photography.”
Adam Reichwein, junior and friend of Rodriguez, said he wishes he had her artistic ability.
“The paintings on the wall all look exactly like the characters from the movies,” Reichwein said. “It looks like a professional did it. She is ridiculously good.”
Even as a child in elementary school, she always had pieces hanging in the hallways. Kathy said she hopes Dana Rodriguez will pursue art in some form after she graduates high school.
“I really hope she pursues it in some degree in higher education,” Kathy said. “She has talent and should stick with it.”
Melissa Zemann, AP art teacher, agreed Dana Rodriguez should pursue art more in the future.
“I think its something she really enjoys,” Zemann said. “Even if she doesn’t major in art, I hope it is something she will continue to do on the side.”
To Dana Rodriguez, art has always been about relaxation. She can draw or paint whatever she wants without worrying about limitations, deadlines or any other kind of restrictions.
Dana Rodriguez first discovered her love of art in middle school, and throughout high school, the love affair has only grown stronger. She has taken Sculpture, Painting I, Painting II and is currently enrolled in AP Art Studio.
“AP gets to have their own art show and we get the opportunity to do more pieces,” Dana Rodriguez said. “We teach ourselves.”
The two main components of AP Art Studio are the students’ concentrations and breadths. The breadths are smaller projects that show technical skill and display the students’ range of talent. Concentrations are 12 pieces with a central theme for the AP exam. Dana Rodriguez’s concentration consists of paintings showcasing idioms.
Stephanie McDaniel, art teacher, taught Dana Rodriguez last year in Painting I.
McDaniel said Dana Rodriguez’s strength is creating realistic paintings because of her amazing eye for detail. Zemann agreed that her strength is painting over any other medium, and said that she has improved since starting AP Art Studio.
“She has developed more of her own voice as an artist and her concentration has really developed,” Zemann said.
Dana Rodriguez’s approach to starting a painting is planning the whole piece out in her mind, keeping size and medium in mind, but she doesn’t feel the need to create a practice sketch. She said she prefers to work in abstract colors or black and white rather than realistic hues.
Dana Rodriguez finds her inspiration in art through people.
“I am inspired by the diversity of people and their variety of features,” Dana Rodriguez said.